


The Cat and the Shadow

by CBlue



Series: No Dice Required [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Champions of Gods, D&D Party - Freeform, Depictions of Fighting (Not Graphic), Dungeons and Dragon Lore, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, M/M, Monsters & Mana (Voltron), One Sexual Encounter, mild swearing, other character mentions - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 20:41:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 43,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CBlue/pseuds/CBlue
Summary: Pike gaped and blinked wide eyes. "What?!" He shrieked as his limbs flailed, sending him backwards. "You want me to be a holy pack mule?!"Ciana bit at her lip. "It's more important than that." She shook her head. "You would form my boon. It would grow within you, but you could not embrace it." She implored him. "I'm asking you to keep to your shadows despite whatever temptations may come with carrying my boon."Narrowing his eyes, Pike straightened his stance. "So you want me because I'm a thief, a smuggler.""Yes." Ciana spoke honestly. The Ke'ii had to give her that. The goddess had an air of honestly to her. She hadn't seemed to speak any lies as of this point but she was still hiding something. "Please, Pike of the Ke'ii. You are my last hope."





	The Cat and the Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU to the story line of Monsters and Mana. This is not a campaign the Paladins are playing, but an AU. There have been several changes to the Monsters and Mana storyline for the sake of this story and I hope you all enjoy it regardless.
> 
> I would like to dedicate this to my very good friends Pali and Tyler. Not only have they encouraged my writings, but they've supported me through endless endeavors. When I lost 2,000 words of this story, they both helped me through that and both remind to save my works and allow me to sob on their shoulders. For that, I am eternally grateful. Thank you to you both.
> 
> I'd also like to dedicate this to all of my friends and followers. Without your support, I would not have the courage or strength to do this. Thank you very much.
> 
> Thank you to AO3 for hosting this site so I could post this here, and thank you to the Voltron Fandom for such a wonderful, exciting ride. It was a joy and honor to be with you all.

Completing a quest was always fun, that was what Pike had grown up hearing from the wandering travelers. He had never experienced it himself before now. He had missions, sure. Jobs even. Never had he been given a quest. It was sort of rewarding. Not like stealing a priceless gem, or a sum of gold from a job well done, but knowing he did something out of his own violation was nice. Which is exactly why as soon as the party hit a town, he had to leave. He couldn't stay with them. Even if he could change his ways, he would never be one of them. His ledger was too bloody and his past too dark. He had no place among them, especially not beside the Paladin of Light, Gyro.

Pike squirmed at the thought. The handsome faced Paladin, of course, repeatedly told Pike he had a place amongst them should he choose it. Block, Meklavar and Valakur thought it too. Why they thought the known thief assassin had a place in their goody-two-shoes band, he was uncertain. However the case may be they all traveled together from the Tomb towards the town of Althean. 

"I can't believe we fought a dragon warlock." Meklavar said again. "I hadn't known dragons still existed, honestly. I thought they were myths."

Raising an eyebrow and a matching smirk, Pike snickered. "You also thought my kind were myths of the planes."

Meklavar rolled her eyes, huffing. "No, I merely was expecting something less..."

Whatever retort she wished to spring forth died on her tongue as Block bemoaned. "Guys, it's getting late. We _have_ to stop for dinner."

The party nodded, all mumbling varying degrees of assent. After the quick decision to stop and make camp, all the party moved almost mechanically in their functions. They had been traveling together for a decent amount of time, long enough to know who was doing what. It wasn't long before the camp was thriving with preparations for dinner. Block sat over the fire, cooking something far better than Pike had ever had for himself on the roads. Valayun and Meklavar sat not too far away, idly chatting. Gyro, a bit further from the fire, polished his sword. The steel had an almost menacing glint in the firelight. Perhaps being on the other end of steel much like that for too long had dampened Pike's vision. The gentle concentration Gyro polished his weapon with was nothing short of endearing.

Not that Pike thought him endearing. Pike sat perched up in a nearby tree. His tail idly swished back and forth, tickling the bark. It made him feel more secure, having the high ground. Being further from the party helped him detach himself. At least, that's what his inner voice told him. The smaller voice whispered that he was afraid to be close to them. The louder voice growled at the smaller voice.

"Dinner!" Block called out. Everyone sans Pike was in the immediate area, so he knew the call was mostly for his benefit.

Gyro, the bastard, smirked as his gaze flitted to the tree Pike was hiding in. How the paladin always seemed to know where he was at this point was beyond him. He internally groaned, jumping down from the branch. He grinned at Block. "Thanks, man."

Block returned the easy grin with a nod. "No problem, dude." He chuckled. "I hope you like it. I know it isn't a lot..." The cleric of Gyragan trailed off sheepishly. It was for no little reason the cleric served the god of land and agriculture. The dude knew his food.

Pike waved off the remark. "Dude, anything you make is heavenly." He practically moaned as his mouth salivated. "It almost makes me thank your god." Pike said earnestly causing his cheeks to flush at his bluntness. He sauntered closer to distract from the honest statement, but he didn't miss Block's prideful grin.

The food was just as satisfying as it was promising. The party hummed gratefully before resuming their conversations in between their meal. Meklavar and Valayun immediately drew Block into their idle chatter. Gyro seemed more content to watch the fire silently as he ate. The warm glow silhouetted his jaw almost perfectly, making him look like a figure from some rich painting. Averting his gaze, Pike buried his face into his food.

"May I ask you something, Pike?"

The gentle question pulled Pike from his thoughts. He raised an eyebrow as he peered into the curious face of the paladin's usually firm face. It always left Pike unsettled when Gyro pointed his softer gaze at him. "Yeah?" Pike answered after a moment.

Gyro moved closer, subtlety, almost as if he were asking a secret of the thief. Honestly, that would be a terrible decision. However, who was Pike to not indulge the sheepishly growing smile on his face? "Your...people..." he started but before he could continue, Pike interrupted. 

"The Ke'ii." He corrected with a twitch of his ears. "We're called the Ke'ii."

Gyro flushed. It was a gentle pink to his cheeks. "The Ke'ii." He repeated, testing the word on his tongue. "Do they often rest in trees like the wild cats do or is that more of your occupation?"

It was a curious question. It was also probably the only time Gyro had mentioned Pike's profession without disdain. Pike chuckled softly. "The Ke'ii are very similar to felines in habit." He answered with a smirk. "We're said to be wild as mountain lions and panthers until we've been tamed." Pike teased with a waggle of his eyebrow.

Perhaps the gentleman that Gyro is missed the insinuation, or perhaps he chooses to ignore it. Whatever the case, Gyro nodded. "Do the Ke'ii travel as often as Common Folk are lead to believe?"

Hearing the term 'Common Folk' always grated on Pike's nerves. They all were different people and just because some chose to socialize more did not make them more common. The only forgiveness Gyro had was his sheltered life. It was almost the complete opposite of Pike's free living lifestyle.

"Usually, yeah." Pike answered honestly. He saw no reason to lie to the paladin, so why not answer his questions? It wasn't like he had anything better to do on the trail. "We all have this wanderlust, similar to humans, but we do tend to live nomadically." Pike's tail swished as idly as his conversation.

Gyro nodded, listening intently. "I see." He said with nothing short of reverence. It left Pike with a feeling that was warmer than what the hot food had given him. "The Ke'ii have always seemed so..." Gyro searched for the word, and Pike wondered if it was hidden on his face with how Gyro was looking at him. "Fantastical. Almost unreal." He said softly.

Pike blinked, turning his glowing face to the fire and hoping its warm embers hid the tint to his cheeks. "I guess the same could be said about a lot of people." He replied nonchalantly.

His companion chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I'm convinced there is no one like you."

The comment took them both aback. They looked to each other with wide eyes. Neither made any move. The tension that was a somewhat pleasurable one turned into something that felt oddly similar to the fire blazing before them. Pike couldn't tell if it was something warm and inviting or something on the edge of burning.

"Well, I think I'm beat." Pike stood quickly and stretched. "I'm gonna head to bed. Good night!" He retreated with as much grace as he could garner in the moment. He ignored the look of confusion and pretended it was nothing akin to hurt on the paladin's gorgeous face. As he buried himself in his bedding, he reprimanded his small voice for ever whispering about his gorgeous face in the first place.

 

 

Once dawn broke, the party began to move along. Pike kept an extra distance from Gyro. Not that it was hard with how the paladin seemed to be back to pointedly ignoring his presence. Pike sighed, idly playing with his bracelet. Block at least kept to his pace, chattering with him about family and cuisines and other warm things. Pike didn't like to admit it, but Block always brought out his warmer side with ease. He always thought that perhaps he was on the precipice of something like that with Gyro, but something kept him skirting away.

He knew exactly what kept him skirting away. It was the same thing that made him sound off a joke to Block and retreat from their homely conversation. He jumped up into the tree line, following the party from above. Growing close to anyone was dangerous to his profession. The small voice said it was dangerous to his broken heart too, but the small voice was quickly silenced by Valayun's ecstatic shout of glee.

"Look! Althean!" She beamed, rushing further down the road. Meklavar laughed brightly, rushing after her and followed by Block. The stoic paladin smiled softly at them, keeping his casual pace as he followed further behind. The Ke'ii stalking above watched him curiously. His tail swished back and forth, almost as if her were stalking prey. Perhaps in a way he was. Gyro was always one way and then the next, but either way he had seemingly adopted this ragtag group of adventurers as is family.

Pike could understand that. Missing his own family had left a gaping hole in his chest, and he couldn't imagine them being ripped away like Gyro's was. It further proved why it was best for everyone all around for him to leave early. He wouldn't add unwanted attention to the merry band and he could continue his ways. The only ways he had really known. The Ke'ii were nomads, finding work where they could--sometimes in merchant trade, sometimes in nightly pleasures, and sometimes in hired dirty work. Pike had chosen the later and he was good at it.

"Will you share one more meal with us?" Gyro asked Pike, even as he stilled face the other party members. 

Thinking it over for a moment, Pike silently hummed. His ears twitched with interest as he mulled over the option presented to him. "As long as I'm not paying."

Pike could easily see the smile stretch across Gyro's face as he laughed softly. "Tonight will be on me."

"Did I hear Gyro was paying?!" Meklavar shouted from further off. She beamed widely at him, waving her arms excitedly. "I'm gonna eat like a Queen tonight!'

Valayun playfully reprimanded her. "It isn't polite to abuse Gyro's generosity." Her eyebrows danced as she smirked. "But I suppose he would love to treat his friends."

Just like that, the spell was over and Gyro was trotting up to catch up with the rest of the group. Pike frowned, chewing at his lip before jumping down and joining them in the rest of their distance to Althean. Maybe this once Pike could indulge that small voice. He would be leaving anyway, so what would it matter? The party for the first time in days walked together.

Althean was just like they remembered it sans the barkeep turned dragon. The town bustled with a liveliness unbefitting of the horrors it had once faced at the hands of the dragon sorcerer. As they entered the bright eyed, orange haired townsfolk seemed to rejoice at their return. All of them knew this meant victory for their village. Pike smirked, relishing in the heroic welcome. The rest of the party took it in varying degrees of humble applause and bashful smiles. Except Meklavar seemed to share Pike's mischievousness on occasion. Her prideful smile as she bolstered about their quest to the surrounding crowd caught Pike's eye and they shared that twin like nature. It reminded Pike of his siblings in a way.

Soon the party was carried off in the wave of the crowd towards the Inn of Lions. The tavern once run by the elusive dragon sorcerer was now manned by the mild manner young man who had once serviced tables. He smiled gently at all of them. "Welcome back, Voltron!" He greeted, donning the title that the town seemed to have awarded the party. "Rounds on the house!"

The patrons rejoiced, raising their mugs and saluting Voltron. The young man served each of them a pint of different drinks. Pike admired the fizziness of his own. It tickled his tongue and smelled sweet. He smiled into his nearly empty mug at the bright voices of his companions. They laughed and teased one another as their drinks sloshed in their mugs when they waved their hands.  Pike's tail leisurely swished behind him before curling under the barstool. 

Pike looked up when he heard the stool next to him scrap across the wooden floor. Gyro sat himself gracefully on it, smiling gently as he offered one of the cups he held to Pike. "I promised you a drink, did I not?" His gaze looked almost playful.

Giving a sharp smirk, Pike took the glass from Gyro's hand. He was all too aware of the way his fingers grazed against Gyro's calloused hand. He quickly took a sip to distract himself but at the taste raised an eyebrow. "What is this?" Pike took another sip. "It's the finest drink I've ever tasted." It was, truly. It wasn't overly sweet like the first drink Pike had been served or nearly as strong, but it was pleasant. The drink made his face flush warm as it slide down his throat.

"It's Illithian wine." Gyro explained almost shyly. "Back in the Temple of Light, we used to make something like it. It was the only drink we were permitted to have."

Pike's eyes widened. "You bought me a cup of _Illithian wine?!_ " He nearly choked. "I don't think I've pocketed anything as expensive as that!"

Gyro's cheeks reddened and he averted his gaze. Pike finally took notice that it was not another cup that Gyro held firmly in his grasp before placing it on the bar, but a bottle. Gyro scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, I haven't been able to enjoy it in so long that I thought a bottle would be nice." He looked to Pike uncertainly. "I thought you liked expensive things?"

Flustered, Pike's tail shot straight up as his eyes widened. "I like taking expensive things from people who don't deserve them or need them." He looked to his glass again. His fingers itched with the need to leave the warming atmosphere of this moment. Perhaps that was the wine talking. "Unless you're buying me on to team Voltron." Pike tried to tease, but his smirk was more of a nervous smile that showed off his sharp teeth.

Whatever Gyro found there caused his eyes to soften and his lips to curl. "You're worth more than a bottle of wine, Pike."

Pike's own cheeks darkened and he was fairly certain it was only barely due to the wine. His fingers traced the cup idly. "Flattery won't win me either."

"You're not a thing to be won." Gyro replied without hesitation. His earnest tone was matched by his furrowed brows of confusion. It was almost as if he were baffled at the thought.

The air between them was heavy like honey. It was richer than the Illithian wine that still lingered on Pike's tongue. Pike's own set brow reflected Gyro's. "Why the sudden change? I thought I was a _scoundrel with no morals_?" He hadn't meant to make the words sound quite as venomous off his tongue, but Gyro's words had sounded like that at the time they were spoken. So perhaps he had meant to convey to Gyro exactly how the words had felt, despite his brushing off the opinion almost immediately at the time.

Gyro's face paled and his eyes widened. "I..." His mouth moved around soundless words until he gulped them down and started again. "I hadn't known you then." Gyro frowned softly. "I'm sorry for that."

Pike pointedly turned away. His tail curled back around the leg of his barstool. "I suppose we all used to think lowly of one another." He said gently. "I apologize for my assumptions of you too."

The smile that fluttered across Gyro's face nearly sent Pike soaring off of his chair from its brilliance. Gyro ducked his head shyly. "And what do you think of me now?" His voice was dangerous. The tone wasn't low and wine laced like Pike had heard directed at him before. The voice wasn't heated with angry pyre that Pike had run from. It settled deep within Pike's chest and he almost retreated from Gyro's company right then.

Pike chased the feeling in his chest down with another sip of his wine. "Well, if the wine you can make is anything like this, I suppose you can't be too bad." He teased.

Gyro threw his head back with laughter. Pike could see Gyro's chest shake even beneath his armor. The wide grin that cracked across the paladin's face was almost breathtaking. Almost too bright to look at. Pike turned from the brightness and back to his empty cup. He didn't hide that his smirk turned into a smile. "I suppose I'll have to make some for you sometime."

On its own accord, Pike's tail swayed with interest. "Oh?" His tongue slipped the flirtatious tone into his words without him having allowed it. "Well, I suppose for that I might stick around."

"Good." Gyro leaned towards Pike, refilling his cup. "You might even be able to help gather the ingredients."

The two of them shared a silent conversation with theirs eyes before they both broke out into a fit of giggles. Wide grins were ducked behind their hands until their giggles ceased. They finally met one another's eyes and Pike hated how warm he felt in that moment. Pike snickered again. "If you think I have the patience or proclivity for that, then you might be crazy." He teased lightly.

Gyro's eyes glistened with mirth. Pike hadn't taken notice of how Gyro had never leaned back out of his space after pouring his drink until now. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I know if you find it worth it, you'll work harder than anyone."

Pike raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, I suppose when and if I know it's worth it, I just might." He promised before he could stop himself, but slowly he was finding himself to mind less. Because he did like speaking to Block about the little things and he did like to banter Meklavar. He did like running with Valayun and he did like laughing with Gyro. Well, he _really_ liked laughing with Gyro.

Whatever moment was slowly burning into something more and dangerous was quickly put out by Block's arms around their shoulders. "You'll never believe it!" He shouted excitedly into their ears. "Apparently they're throwing a whole festival tomorrow!" He beamed brightly. "They'll be cakes and meat pies!" Block explained enthusiastically.

Meklavar came up on Pike's other side. "They'll be games too!"

"And dancing!" Valayun piped from Gyro's other side.

"Sounds like fun." Gyro agreed with the party gently. "What do you say, Pike? One more day with us? At least to enjoy the festivities."

Pike hummed in thought. "Well, if I recall, it was a whole meal you owed me." He grinned. "And I plan to collect."

Gyro shared the grin with a chuckle that seemed to roll out of him. "I suppose I do." 

Meklavar's eyes wandered to the bar in front of them. "Is that _Illithian_ wine?!" She shouted.

"Illithian wine?" Valayun peered over Gyro's shoulder. "That's one of the sweetest tasting drinks to have ever quenched the tongues of mortals."

Pike quickly grabbed the bottle, tucking it into his chest. "Yeah, and this bottle is mine." He smirked confidently.

Block gaped at the Ke'ii under his arm. "You have an entire bottle of Illithian wine?" He frowned. "You didn't..steal it. Did you?"

"No, I didn't steal it!" Pike huffed. "It was bought for me." He winked, but from their seating positions, it was not clearly pointed at Gyro, even though the paladin knew exactly who that smirk was for. Gyro flushed and turned his eyes away.

"Who?" Meklavar leaned heavily on Pike, obviously scoping out the room behind where they sat. "Did you con a poor local into buying the most expensive drink here?"

Gyro cleared his throat. "Perhaps it was an admirer." He proposed.

Pike's heart stopped beating for a moment and the smirk fell quickly from his lips. This was no longer a game. He could barely hear the guffaws and jests pointed at him over his gaze locked with Gyro's. For once in Pike's entire life, he showed his cowardly stripes and turned away first. The tell tale beat of his heart was much too rapid and his cheeks were much warmer than the alcohol would have allotted.

"I think I should be heading to bed." Pike spoke slowly. He stood, shrugging Meklavar and Block's arms off of his shoulders. Pike watched some sort of light dwindle from Gyro's eyes and he despised being the cause. So despite his reservations and the whole reason for his retreat, his treacherous mouth quickly added, "If it were an admirer, I would tell him he'd have a much better time with someone who would stay."

The light did not rekindled, but Gyro's lips tugged gently upwards. "I hope one day you find a reason to."

Pike turned from him and the rest of Voltron. He tucked the bottle safely in his jacket as he tread up the stairs into the room he was gifted with. His footfalls felt heavier and the bottle burned through his skin.

 

 

The morning sun rose with promises of merriment and laughter. Already the streets were lined with brilliant and colorful booths. The wafting smell of baked and cooked goods alike drug Pike from his sleepiness. The gentle rapping at his door stirred him fully. He yawned as his ears perked back. Pike stretched and he was certain if anyone had seen it they might have pointed out how alike it was to the habits of lazy house cats. The Ke'ii never took too kindly to being compared to those sorts of felines, but Pike had no doubt the mannerisms carried all the same.

Pike scratched at his collarbone as he leisurely strolled to the door. He yawned once more, covering his mouth as he did so. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Pike opened the door with a greeting. "Hello?"

On the other side of the doorframe stood Gyro. He hadn't donned his armor this morning, certainly in anticipation to enjoy himself for the day at the festival. Pike was suddenly self aware that he hadn't bothered to dress more decently than slipping his trousers on. He leaned against the doorframe in a show of confidence that he was certain he didn't have in the early hours, especially in front of the paladin that was so devastatingly attractive with or without his armor.

Gyro's mouth moved, but just like the other night at the bar, no words escaped his rather soft looking lips. Pike shook himself of the thought and smirked. "Cat got your tongue?" He shot the all too familiar phrase to the flustered paladin. Pike had no issue shooting him a playful grin. His tale swayed with his teasing manner.

The paladin's sense of modesty must have finally caught up with him when he turned his gaze abruptly over Pike's shoulder. "I'm here to inform you that we're having breakfast before the festival." He added. "If you wish to join us."

The sun light that filtered through the small window almost highlighted Gyro's strong frame, even when he wasn't completely in the room. The shadows that casted on his jaw only sharpened its shape. If Pike were a young kit, he might swoon at the paladin in front of him. But as it was, he was not a kit, and he was no stranger to his place in the world.

"I'll be down in a minute. Let me get dressed." Pike answered after a moment. He allowed his lips to quirk into a smile as he admired Gyro. Just because he wouldn't swoon over the shining knight did not mean he couldn't admire him. Obviously.

Gyro nodded and looked at Pike for the first time during their conversation. "Good. We'll wait for you." He smiled brightly, much more awake than what he ought to be at this hour.

Pike shook his head. "No, go ahead. I'll be down in a minute." He reassured, or perhaps pressed a point. 

"Then it shall be no issue to wait a moment for you." Gyro's brow set low on his face as he gently argued.

Pike found he couldn't argue with that without revealing his true intentions. Trying to slowly separate himself from the party seemed just as hard as leaving abruptly. If they argued whether he should be there or not, Pike might not ever leave. Perhaps for now the party seemed to convey they _wanted_ him to stay, but there would come a time where he would have to follow his nomadic ancestors and leave everything again. He always had to leave and he didn't quite mind. That's why he never grew attached to things.

Well, he never grew attached to things unless they were a 6 foot tall puppy asking him to join him for breakfast. He could imagine it would be worse times tenfold had any of the others been at the other side of his door as well. Pike internally groaned as he moved further back into his room. "Fine. Then I'll only be a moment." Pike moved to the bed and shifted through his belongings until he found a clean shirt to slide over his head. His ears sprang forth and he slid his hair back with the band he usually wore on his forehead. Pike moved along, placing his jewelry, combing his hair, and when he finished he turned to the door to find Gyro still standing there.

Pike huffed crossing his arms. "Did I need an escort?" He frowned and looked over Gyro carefully.

The older man started and stared at Pike with wide eyes. His cheeks looked even pinker in the morning light. "Uh, sorry." He shook his head and coughed into his hand. "I was just lost in thought." He admitted before smiling carefully at Pike. "Would you mind terribly if I escorted you?"

The Ke'ii's tail swiped at the air absently as he raised an eyebrow to his companion. "Since you're already here." He shrugged, trying to make light of what he could see playing before him. He would eventually have to hurt Gyro, but why now? Why not give Gyro one more day before he realized his mistake?

Gyro's smiled widened and shined softer than the sunlight. He stepped to the side, allowing Pike to step out of the room. "Well, we'd best hurry before their stomachs get the better of them."

Pike laughed and shook his head. "You'll be to blame if there is nothing left." He teased as they began their walk.

"I suppose I shall." Gyro chuckled as he easily fell into step with Pike. "I suppose then I'll owe you one more meal."

Shooting a sharp toothed grin, Pike laughed loudly. "You'll owe me a lifetime of meals if you aren't careful, Paladin."

The softening of Gyro's gaze was shattering to say the least. "I just might."

The time it took to reach the end of the stairs was shorter than what Pike could recall. Perhaps it was the company or perhaps it was Pike's wandering mind. Either way, the two were at the end of the stairs and meeting the party at the long wooden table amiably supplied with hot, plated foods. The smell alone was enough to drag Pike to the table. He nearly moaned at the scent. 

"This smells amazing." Pike said near wistfulness as he seated himself. His tail curled towards his body as he gave a pleased purr.

"Doesn't it?" Block agreed. "It'll be the best thing we've tasted in weeks!"

Pike scoffed. "There's no way this is better than your food, Block." He smirked. "Your food tastes heavenly."

Block flushed at the praise. "No way. They actually have spices to work with." He brushed off the praise with a chuckle.

Meklavar guffawed. "No, Pike is totally right." She grinned. "Your food is amazing, Block."

The pleased smile on Block's face complimented his sweet blush. He squirmed, but it wasn't from discomfort if the gleam in his eyes was anything to go by. "Thank you."

Once everyone had settled in, Pike's full attention was on the steaming plate in front of him. His mouth watered at the temptation to eat, but he leaned back. He looked up to Gyro and Block and watched them bow their heads in their prayers. In some silent promise, Pike, Meklavar, and Valayun always waited until after their prayers to eat. Even though Pike wasn't religious himself, he still waited as the two of them finished their prayers. Gyro and Block finished and shared a knowing smile with one another. Pike figured it was probably one of those things that he wouldn't quite understand, but the shared practice had bonded the two in a certain way.

"I have to admit," Block confessed between bites, "I've always been curious about other deities." He chuckled. "I was only raised with Gyragan's religion. I've always wanted to know more about the deities others worship though."

Gyro gave a brilliant smile. "Of course. I have to confess that I too have been curious." He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose if you share yours, I'll share mine?"

Block beamed, clapping his hands excitedly. "Yeah! That would be great." He nodded enthusiastically.

The comfortable atmosphere was almost promising to Pike. It kept the party alluring to him. The warm smiles and idle conversation filled him almost as much as the hot food on the table did. As promised, Gyro began to speak and Pike couldn't help but listen curiously.

"My Temple worshipped Lady Ciana and her Circle." The table paused. It was obvious that the past tense had caught in Gyro's throat. It left his voice sounding softer, almost like a whisper. "Her Circle consists of herself, the Lady of Luck, the Lady of Healing, the Lady of Stories-"

"That's a lot of ladies." Pike quipped to break the stillness of the table. He was met with a roll of Valayun's eyes as she chastised him. 

Gyro smiled softly. "It is." He nodded. "The Lady of Light gave her siblings domains." Gyro began to explain again.

Meklavar interrupted curiously. "Wait, she gave domains to them?" Her brow furrowed. "How?"

The paladin chuckled for a moment. "We believe the Lady of Light holds domain over everything the light touches." His hands moved as he spoke more vividly. "So, in honor of her siblings, Lady Ciana gave to Lady Paraskevi the domain of the roads. She became the Patron Saint of Travelers and the Lady of Luck. To her other sisters, the Ladies of Healing and Stories, she gifted the domains of medicine and revelry respectively." Gyro's voice was like wisps in Pike's ears as visions of long forgotten lore danced behind his eyelids. "There was another in Lady Ciana's Circle. Her brother, Tychon."

The party pushed their plates aside, food long forgotten, as they leaned forward to listen. Each of them in various states propped their limbs on the table to give them better purchase. Pike's own tail swished curiously as Gyro continued to regal them with the tale.

"Tychon was gifted the domain of Shadow. Some argued that the Lady of Light did not have it in her power to gift him this domain, but the light creates shadows." Gyro smiled as his eyes grew distant. It was almost as if the paladin had been there himself, or heard the story from someone who was. "Tychon was not satisfied with his cold shadows and the fungus that grew there." Gyro's demeanor sharpened into something harsh. "He tried to seize Lady Ciana's domain, but fell quickly to her and their sisters. He slithered back into his shadows to fight another day." With a blink of his eyes, Gyro was back with them. He nodded determinedly. "That is why we were charged with protecting mortals from his threat as she oversees the rest of her domain. It's what I am still charged to do, and if she calls it is my duty to answer."

Gyro's tale was received with silent awe. His passionate way of speaking almost enthralled Pike into the woes of the Lady, but he shook himself of the spell. Block was the one who broke the silence. "Tychon. He is the God of Shadows and Corruption, is he not?"

"That he is." Gyro nodded. He turned his attention back to his cold food and grimaced. "The tales say he used to play with his sisters in the soft sands of distant beaches."

Pike frowned as his tail snapped in the air. "I don't know why anyone would give up beaches for dark things."

The softness at the corner of Gyro's eyes was almost unbearable. "If everyone had a love for the soft sands like you do, we wouldn't need worry ourselves with shadows."

The Ke'ii flushed pink and turned pointedly away. He didn't miss the curious eyebrow from Block nor the knowing smirk from Meklavar. He glared at the two of them before standing. "Well, we have a festival to get to, don't we?" He scoffed a laugh. "If we don't hurry, all the good stuff will be gone."

Meklavar and Block were quick to stand. They both wore matching beams as the raced out of the tavern. Valayun was quick on their heels. She laughed and her hair almost flew behind her. It made her Fae ancestry show all the more. Pike stopped in his tracks as he turned back to face Gyro who still sat at the once crowded table.

"Gyro?" He called out as his tail flickered for a moment.

The paladin shook his head before meeting Pike's gaze. He smiled. "Sorry. I hadn't meant to keep you."

Pike shrugged casually. "Eh, I can wait. Unlike those guys." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. His lips quirked into a sharp tease. "Are you coming?"

Gyro laughed as he stood. "Yes. I would have only been a moment." He raised an eyebrow but the affect was lost while his smile looked like a shared secret. 

The affection that bubbled inside of Pike's chest made his skin boil into a furnace. It felt almost unbearable. How could one survive this sort of heat? Had he always been this affected by soft smiles and gentle words?

"Then it was no issue to wait for you." Gyro's words from Pike's mouth felt much too intimate to be confessed in the open tavern, but even in this early hour as most people took to the streets for the festivities, it was quiet. It was peaceful.

Pike watched as Gyro's soft smiled blossomed across his face into something adoring. He ducked his face shyly and Pike was grateful for the aid in blocking the brightness of it. Gyro blinked up at the thief through dark eyelashes.

"Thank you." He whispered gently despite them being the only ones there. Again Pike sent a thankful prayer as he wasn't certain if he could hear the words over his own heart.

Shrugging as if to shake himself of the endearment, Pike nodded. "It's no problem." His tail gently swayed behind him. "Now let's go before they come charging in for you." Pike's eyes glinted teasingly as he gestured for Gyro to follow him. Gyro took no hesitation to fall in step with the Ke'ii as they exited the Inn of Lions.

 

 

The streets were lined with colorful banners that left Pike breathless. He had never seen such an exuberant celebration before. Humble stalls framed the Main Street and sweet smelling foods filled the air with a warm scent. Pike grinned as he took it all in. Voltron chattered idly as they went. The stalls and farmers welcomed them with glee. Sometimes they were showered with praises or gifts and sometimes it was small children dancing around their feet. Pike had taken special notice of the way Gyro had looked at him with one child perched on his knee as he told bewitching tales. Pike had returned his attention to the young girl who's hair he was braiding after that.

As they continued on with their festivities, Valayun gave a sound like a squeal in excitement. "Oh, look!" She pointed as she bounced on her heel.

Meklavar read the sign that Valayun's sharp finger had pointed out. The Dwarf squinted as she read. "The Mystic's Hut?" She guffawed. "You want to go in there?"

Valayun's brow furrowed across her gentle features. "Yes, I do." She crossed her arms. "Mystics know many things. She may know where my ancestors' gemstone is!"

At the revelation, Meklavar's eyes widened and she shared Valayun's enthusiasm. "And my father's sword!" The two nodded to one another before charging in to the Mystic's Hut without further preamble. Gyro sighed softly as he smiled at the two. His expression was clearly endeared as he followed them into the Hut. Pike was about to follow through when Block's gentle hand on his shoulder stopped him.

He turned to face Block's frowning face and met it with his own frown. "What's wrong, buddy?" He asked Block carefully.

Block chewed on his lip for a moment before turning back to Pike fully. "If we get all our answers and our paths separate..." He trailed off for a moment.

Pike's eyes widened as he understood what Block was saying. If this Mystic gave them the answers they wanted, there would be no need for them to travel together. The Team Voltron would all walk their separate ways, and maybe that was Pike's plan all along, but the thought still unsettled him. He nodded simply. "I get it."

The cleric shook his head and his brow furrowed. "No, you don't." He said seriously. "It is an honor to travel with you, Pike of the Ke'ii People."

With wide eyes, Pike blinked his shock away. He shook his head as if to clear the fog that was his thoughts. He opened his mouth but any thought was interrupted by Meklavar's impatient shout. Pike huffed, rolling his eyes, before turning to Block again. "Let's not keep them waiting."

Block gave an uncertain smile but nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

The Mystic's Hut was adorned with purples and golds. Pike thought the gold might have looked tacky in other places, but its unearthly sheen was enchanting. They slowly filed in to see a round table with six seats around it. The party eyed the hut carefully before a voice rang out.

"Take a seat!"

The party was on high alert. They couldn't tell exactly which direction the voice came from, but their attention was drawn to a silk curtain. A petite woman with alabaster skin drew the curtain back with a smile. "My Lady will be with you in a moment." She promised as she walked towards the table with a small tray in hand. "Would you like some tea while you wait?"

Spectales adorned the round face of the soft spoken woman. Her kind eyes sparkled beneath them as she tilted her head in inquiry. The party looked to themselves before they cautiously took their seats.

"If it isn't any trouble." Valayun smiled politely.

"Of course not!" The stranger grinned as she poured a cup for Valayun. "Anyone else?" She offered with the point of her kettle. When the party responded with no more than polite thank you's and shakes of their heads, she set the kettle down. "I'll go see what's keeping her." She smiled with ease before quickly turning on her heel. "Sister!" She called out as she disappeared behind the curtain.

Pike took the awkward silence as a moment to truly look around the place. There wasn't anything to steal save for the crystal ball in the middle, but Pike doubted a witch's arcane focus would be worth much. It gave off an eerie glow that made the gold that decorated the hut look like it was shimmering. The gold danced against the purple, creating images that danced on the satin curtains.

"Here we are!" The same voice and called again. This time the growingly familiar face pulled back the curtain to reveal a shorter figure. The shorter figure's skin was marked with gold, just as the curtains. Golden petals bloomed across her neck and shoulders as she moved further into the glow of her crystal. Her eyes were brighter than emeralds, and Pike almost swore she was an entire being made of gold and precious gems. "My Lady C-"

"That's enough, Para." The ethereal being's voice was like honey against Pike's ears. He looked to his companions and saw that they too were easily enthralled. "Please, they're my esteemed guests. We have no need of this."

Pike smirked. "Well, the pleasure is ours - oof!" Pike rubbed at his side where Meklavar's elbow had impacted. Her glared at her snickering form but remained silent.

The graceful smile that spread on the soft woman's face was more dignified than Pike had expected of the town's mystic. She moved to the table with unequal elegance. The first woman, Para, pulled out the seat for her. Para kissed the side of her head. "Tea, sister?"

The finesse was gone from the woman as she huffed. Now she reminded Pike of his older sister. "No, Para. Thank you." She nodded gratefully before turning to the party. "Welcome to my Hut. I hope you found it with ease?"

Valayun beamed, clapping her hands as she leaned forward. "Were we meant to find this place?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course you were meant to." The mystic looked like she was close to laughing. "And I know why you're here."

Pike watched as Meklavar scoffed. The Dwarf crossed her arms. "Do you really?" She asked in disbelief.

The mystic raised an eyebrow. She tucked some of her red hair behind her ear. "Yes, I do." She nodded solemnly. "You're here to discover the whereabouts of your father's sword."

Meklavar chewed at her lip but remained quiet. She was here for exactly that purpose, so why would she fight it? Either the mystic would be correct or not. It was a better lead than she had now which was nothing. Pike knew all this just from looking at her. Despite the harsh demeanor that came from her Dwarven roots, she was a gentle soul. She was always kind hearted despite her teasing. He did wish her luck in finding her father's sword.

"It's held by a beast in a mountain." The mystic spoke up after a moment. The party looked on with bated breath. "The same beast holds your ancestors' gemstone." The mystic turned to Valayun.

Valayun gasped. She covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "The _Hartsteen_." Her mouth quivered. "What sort of beast would horde these things?"

The mystic sighed. She leaned her head forward and Pike noticed how she dropped her posture. "The beast resides in the mountain that shadows your village, Block of the Soft Soil."

Block's face paled and his eyes sunk into his skull. "The.... _Mauga_?" He whispered. "But I thought the creature who dwelled there was a myth."

A gentle shake of the mystic's head was the only answer Block needed. She smiled sadly before turning her gaze to Gyro finally. "The beast is one you are familiar with." She exhaled and her shoulders dropped further. "It's him of course. The one who killed your brothers." The mystic's eyes burned with sorrow and anger as she looked away from Gyro's face. "He slaughtered all of them."

Gyro tried to say something but his mouth opened soundlessly for a few moments. "Tychon." He spat out the name like venom and Pike had never seen his features burn. The soft glow of the room was like a furnace now. Pike's tail flickered anxiously and his ears almost tucked behind him. He subconsciously began to reach for Gyro, but decided against it. He sat on his hands and his skin crawled with how the room changed.

"Yes." The mystic whispered softly. "You are all here for a purpose, my son." She smiled and it wasn't as sad. This time she looked the slightest bit proud. The mystic's gentle hands reached for one of Gyro's and Pike swallowed harshly at how familiar the gesture was. Gyro seemed to be searching for the answer too.

"I couldn't protect them." Her voice broke for a moment. "I couldn't protect _him_." Just as Gyro's voice had carried the weight of his fellow paladins in his retellings, the mystic's youthful appearance gained years. "But I could protect you." She squeezed his hand before turning his palm upwards. "You, my shining light, the bearer of my sword, shall fight for me."

The party seemed to have the same reaction in varying degrees. Pike's was the most drastic. He jumped from his seat. "What the _hells_ are you going on about?!"

The emeralds of her eyes blazed with newfound glory. She seemed ignited and burned with a thousand different lights as she stood. Her skin was not gold but some unearthly light that shone across her bones. "I speak of things which you have already been told." Her voice bellowed as the Hut around them seemed to grow smaller. Valayun shouted in surprise as she stood to ready her bow. Meklavar gave an aggressive growl as she raised her own weapon.

"No!" Block lowered Meklavar's weapon with his staff. "Hold yourselves." His calming voice lowered their weapons slightly and eased them somewhat. Pike still stood poised and ready to strike. As distrusting as he was of the nameless mystic, he did trust Block's judgement.

The mystic waved her hands and the table blinked away as if it were nothing more than an illusion. "You are correct in your assumptions, Block of the Soft Soils."

Gyro's eyes widened and he fell to a knee. Pike nearly jumped to check over him but froze at the paladin's words. "My Lady."

The mystic's hair seemed to flow as if in an eternal breeze. She smiled and allowed a hand to gently graze Gyro's cheek. Moving her hand to his chin, the woman turned Gyro's gaze to her. "Yes, my favorite son." She spoke softly. "You have done so well."

Meklavar gaped. "Oh gods. It's Ciana." She whispered harshly against Pike's side. He stood stock still as he quickly looked between the paladin on the floor and the apparent goddess standing before them all. The room burned around him and boiled his skin.

Lady Ciana of the Light smirked at Meklavar. A Goddess of uncounted years smirked as if sharing a joke. Perhaps she knew that Gyro was about to snap. He turned to Meklavar in shock. " _Lady_ Ciana." He corrected. The goddess raised her hand and shook her head.

"You may address me as Ciana." She informed the party with a regal nod. Her burning gaze died into something like a warm candle. She faced Gyro again. "Gyro of the Temple of Light, my paladin and bearer of my sword," she began, "I am so sorry for your lost but I must ask something of you."

"Anything, my Lady." Gyro answered without hesitation. His devotion to her was as burning as her own light. Pike was surprised sometimes that one man could remain as dedicated to someone who had neglected his people and let them die. If Ciana's earlier words rang true though, there may have been something more to that.

Ciana's lips tucked upwards into a small smile. "My son, you are devoted in everything that you are," she looked pridefully of the fact, "in your worship and love alike." The goddess' smile was almost teasing. Whatever the secret behind her mirth filled eyes caused Gyro to falter and flush. Pike watched as Meklavar tried to puzzle what that meant.

The Lady's gentle hand lifted Gyro, silently commanding him to stand. "You must go to this mountain and slay Tychon." She spoke seriously and her voice sounded like a dying sun. "He destroyed my temple in hopes of taking my power." She frowned, looking away from Gyro. "He was successful in this."

Gyro's eyes widened in horror. "You can't possibly mean-"

"But I do, Paladin." She nodded. "In destroying my temple, my place of worship, he has absconded some of my power." Ciana's gaze was almost tearful and Pike felt swayed with some sort of sympathy towards her forlorn face.

Pike cleared his throat. "So Gyro's holy quest, Meklavar's sword, Valayun's gem, and the shadow that haunts Block's people." He nodded. Even deep within him as he knew he had no destiny, no greater design, part of him broke apart. Hearing a goddess tell you that you had no purpose was something Pike had not expected.

"And you, Pike." Ciana's gaze scorched into Pike's form. "The thing you seek which cannot be stolen, only given, lies at the end of this path." Her bare feet stepped towards Pike and he felt his entire body go rigid. "You shall be my Champion."

"Pike?!" Valayun gaped in shock. "But Gyro is-"

"Gyro's light is easily recognized." Ciana's voice became like a harsh wind. "Tychon would spot my boon within him in less than the beat of a hummingbird." The goddess hummed in thought. "But my boon would be concealed in shadows." She smiled gently. "Pike, what I ask of you is no easy task. It is perhaps the most difficult." Her brow furrowed as she stepped forward. "I need you to carry my boon until you are close enough that Gyro can wield it and slay Tychon."

Pike gaped and blinked wide eyes. " _What?!_ " He shrieked as his limbs flailed, sending him backwards. "You want me to be a _holy pack mule?_!"

Ciana bit at her lip. "It's more important than that." She shook her head. "You would form my boon. It would grow within you, but you could not embrace it." She implored him. "I'm asking you to keep to your shadows despite whatever temptations may come with carrying my boon."

Narrowing his eyes, Pike straightened his stance. "So you want me because I'm a thief, a smuggler."

"Yes." Ciana spoke honestly. The Ke'ii had to give her that. The goddess had an air of honestly to her. She hadn't seemed to speak any lies as of this point but she was still hiding something. "Please, Pike of the Ke'ii. You are my last hope."

Pike looked to his party. They all watched him expectantly. He could handle breaking their expectations, but when he turned to Gyro his resolve crumbled. Gyro didn't look expectantly and he didn't look imploring. His features were honed into something sharp that waited for Pike's response. It was almost like he _knew_ what Pike was going to say and was just waiting for it.

"...okay." Pike said eventually and he was surprised at the strength in his voice. "I'll do it."

Ciana's face brightened and she moved closer. "Excellent! I-"

"I'm not doing it for you, though." Pike was quick to cut off her grateful relief. "I'm doing this for my friends." As much as his heart was reluctant to open himself to the weakness, he would not owe himself to a god or embroil himself in their deeds more than necessary.

Pike pointedly ignored the small smiles that grew across the faces of his party members. He kept slitted eyes narrowed at Ciana. Ciana blinked before nodding in understanding.

"Of course." She spoke softly. "I am not asking for your faith. Only your help." Ciana sighed for a moment before bringing her hand up to Pike's chest gently. "You're very strong, Pike."

The Ke'ii flushed despite his furrowed brow. "Thanks." His tail swirled in dangerous patterns behind himself.

Ciana took his hand and turned the palm upwards. She closed her eyes and Pike was blinded by a gorgeous white light. When the brightness had finally dimmed enough for him to open squinting eyes, Pike examined his surroundings. He was on top of a mountain and a gentle breeze cooled his skin despite the warm sunlight that shone on his face. He turned from the sun and was left facing a broken stone... something. Some remains or ruins of what once was a monument or temple began to decay on the mountaintop. Pike curiously stepped forward but paused in his gentle steps when he heard a voice.

"I shall give you my light." Ciana's voice spoke from the ruins. Pike turned to look for her but could not spot her glistening form. "Your hands shall bear my symbol and you shall wield my light for my purpose."

It sounded like the words were addressed to someone else. It almost sounded like the goddess was younger. Before Pike could question it, his hands began to burn. He screamed in agony as he fell to his knees in the soft grass. He cradled his hands close to his chest as the light once again surrounded him. Drowning in bright light, Pike succumbed to the gentle warmth that eventually soothed his hands.

When Pike opened his eyes he felt cool hands against his cheeks. He slowly blinked himself back from wherever he had left. "Gyro?" He questioned with a soft voice.

Gyro nodded. "Slowly, Pike." He said just as softly. "She presented her boon to you." He said almost reverently.

"And then she bailed." Meklavar huffed as she crossed her arms.

Valayun glared at the Dwarf. "She had other things to attend to." Her features softened and she turned back to Pike. "As soon as you... well, fainted... she said someone had cried out to her and she left."

Block seemed to be preforming some sort of ritual as Pike came to full awareness. His head was held in Gyro's lap as Block performed his ministrations. Pike shook his head as he wormed himself free from both of their grasps. He rubbed carefully at his tender palms before standing. "Does it always hurt like this?" Pike turned to face Block and Gyro.

The two of them looked to each other before turning back to Pike. "Pike," Gyro swallowed carefully, "no one has been heralded her Champion since..." The paladin trailed off carefully, "since Sir Pietro." Gyro stood and moved to capture Pike's face in his hands again. "Pike, this is serious. You've taken on the burden of a goddess."

Pike shrugged Gyro's hands off of him again. "So what?" He scoffed. "We go up the mountain, slay Tychon, and then I'm free to go about my business and you yours!" 

Gyro's brow furrowed deep on his face and he almost _growled_. "Pike, enough!" He inhaled sharply. "This isn't another dragon sorcerer that _we barely made it out of the first time_." Gyro's words were enunciated with every shake of his body. That was when Pike noticed that the paladin's body was indeed trembling. "This is a god, Pike! This isn't some nab for glory!"

"I'm not in it for the glory!" Pike growled back just as fiercely. "I said I was doing it for my friends and I meant it! Or has the past two days of your flowering words meant nothing of what you think of me?"

The paladin's eyes widened and the fire in his stance was quickly doused. "I..." Gyro stumbled. "I didn't mean..."

Block closed his eyes and sighed. "We all know you didn't mean it, Gyro." He said softly as he stood next to Pike. "This was Pike's decision and I stand beside him just as he stood beside me in his decision." Block smiled at Pike. "One more adventure?" 

Pike returned the smile with a wink. He watched as Valayun and Meklavar wore the same sort of emotion on their faces. Proud and gentle smiles adorned their faces as they nodded in agreement. Gyro's mouth opened for a moment before he softly shut it.

"It's dangerous." He said as if that had explained everything.

The Ke'ii raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms. "Everything I do is dangerous."

Gyro's face flushed with frustration and some other emotion that Pike had difficulty reading. He inhaled and exhaled slowly to recollect himself. "We have to tread carefully. Lady Ciana warned us that Tychon might try to seduce and tempt us from our path."

"I can help." Para's voice carefully spoke up from behind where Pike stood. The party slowly turned to her seemingly timid form. "Ciana appointed me to start you on your path." She nodded with a small smile.

"Para." Gyro tested the name for a moment. His eyes widened again and he quickly fell to his knee. It was identical to when Ciana had revealed herself. "Lady Paraskevi." He bowed his head.

Pike couldn't help the internal groan at another goddess revealing herself. The Lady Paraskevi seemed to melt in a fog until a figure of glowing aura stood in her place. She beamed at the party before nodding. "You don't have to call me that, little one." She chuckled fondly as she gestured for Gyro to stand. "I've watched you grow. It's odd to be considered such a deity to you."

Gyro nodded solemnly. "Then what shall I call you, Lady Paraskevi?"

The Lady didn't seem to know herself as she chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose what I want you to call me and what you should call me are not alike." She said carefully. "So for now you may address me as Paraskevi, simply." She answered eventually.

"Paraskevi," Block began gently, "We thank you for your generosity and guidance." He bowed his head respectfully.

"Of course." Paraskevi nodded with something that was almost a grin. "Now, you should probably head back to that Inn to pack up. When you're ready, meet me outside Althean on the road to the Soft Soil." The goddess instructed. "Look for me and you will know me by the mule garbed with my cloak."

Nodding carefully at her words, Gyro bowed his head again. "Of course. Thank you, Paraskevi."

Paraskevi looked over Gyro for a moment. Her eyes glided to Pike before roaming back to Gyro. "There will be times when we have to contact him and he will not know our signs. You will have to translate for him."

Gyro's face hardened, but it wasn't harsh. It was determined and it left Pike with a secured feeling resting in his chest. "I won't leave his side." He answered to her.

"Good." Paraskevi said gently. "You'll need one another." She stepped back and spoke to all of them. "You'll all need one another."

Meklavar's harsh demeanor relented and she nodded gently. "We'll stick to each other just like before."

"Like we always do." Valayun added sweetly. The consuming feeling that Voltron drowned Pike with was almost as overwhelming as the swallowing light of Ciana.

Paraskevi nodded and smirked. "I know." She clapped her hands and in an instant her form blew away like dust in a sandstorm. The party coughed and swatted the remains of whatever illusion had dissipated from in front of them. When they blinked their vision clear, there was no glistening hut around them. Instead, run down walls slowly rotted around them and the hay roof seemed to have caved in years ago. Pike huffed and uncrossed his arms. "Well, nice to know parlor tricks are used by all sorts of magic users."

Gyro gave a soft chuckle as he shook his head. "Only you could beholden yourself to a goddess and still come back with that sharp tongue."

"Hey, she said she wanted me as is." Pike challenged with a sharp grin. "Besides, you like this sharp tongue." The paladin's red face made Pike all too aware of the possible meaning of his words. He turned to take them in stride. "Well, we should hurry back to the Inn."

"You're right." Valayun spoke up. "We have many things to do to prepare ourselves for the journey."

Block grinned. "We should be able to detour to my village on our way up the mountain and resupply there." The cleric offered.

Meklavar seemed to brighten at the possibility. "And then we can see this mountain you always speak of." 

It was nice to see lighter faces to their new quest. The seriousness of Pike's mission weighed heavily on his heart, but he felt the burden easier to carry. And perhaps they were only traveling together because their goals all lead to the same destination, but Pike felt a warm certainty lurk into his chest that they were here because they were a team. Pike nodded and the party known as Voltron slowly began to make their trek back to the Inn. It was sad to miss the rest of the jovial celebrations, but they all knew what had to be done. With a mixture of excitement and trepidation, the party began to move forward together.

 

 

Pike hummed in thought as he looked to his small bag. It wasn't much, and he knew the rest of the party faired no better with heavy luggage, but it was all he owned. His ears perked and he turned his attention to the feet sounding at the door. They were heavy footfalls, but not heavy enough to by Gyro and his bulking armor. Pike raised a curious eyebrow and moved closer to the door.

The timid knock took him by surprise and he opened the door cautiously. His eyes widened when he saw it was none other than Meklavar standing at the other end of the doorway. "Meklavar?" Pike inquired.

She looked to her armored hands that couldn't quite keep still in the moment. The Dwarf met Pike's eyes with a certain sense of precaution. "Can I come in?" Meklavar asked softly.

Pike would never admit to it, but he could never say no to Meklavar in the first place. The spunky, young Dwarf reminded him of his siblings far too much. Now with her looking so unsure of her place, Pike had no choice but to invite her in. He nodded his consent and moved to allow her entry.

"What is it?" Pike gently prodded as he closed the door behind her.

Meklavar chewed at her lip nervously as she paced in the small space of the room. "This is big, isn't it?" She eventually spoke and her voice sounded as if she had spoken the same words to herself over and over in repetition.

Pike swallowed the hardening lump in his throat. "Yeah." His voice croaked around the tightness. "Yeah, it is." The Ke'ii sighed and moved to sit himself on the simple bed. He buried his face in his hands and allowed his fingers to massage around his ears. "Gods? Missions? This isn't a fetch quest or a hired kill." 

The sound of the bed creaking alerted Pike to her weight beside him. "Yeah." Her voice regained some of its volume. "This is...so much more than just finding my father's sword." Meklavar turned away from him. He could tell by how much further her voice sounded, or perhaps that was him and his mind as he floated far away. "Pike...you do know there's no turning back, right?"

Pike could feel himself snarl instinctually. "Why does everyone think I'm just going to turn tail?" He nearly spat as he turned to Meklavar. Her smile was sympathetic but she huffed. The thief groaned as he shook his head. "Fine. So what if I was going to leave the party? That doesn't mean I'm going to abandoned people to the hands of a monster." Pike pointed out, rather hurt at the insinuation that he would completely forgo any sense of duty to save the entire realm from a bloodthirsty god. "All of our people will suffer from Tychon if we don't do something."

The soft smile that slowly spread across Meklavar's face read like danger and felt like kinship. "Gyro was right about you." She chuckled. "I guess there's some hope after all." A mischievous eyebrow tickled at her expression. "Don't go too soft or you'll defeat the point of Ciana choosing you."

Grimacing, Pike turned away. "Yup. You know me. Soul as black as twilight." He teased with a shove of his shoulder as he forced his grimace away.

Meklavar must have caught it because her own smirk quickly fell like Beruvian waterfalls. "It's not because you're evil, Pike." She almost reassured. "You're..." she moved her hands oddly in gesture, "you're on the precipice of either or. You're in this grey area where you could be bad, but you're not." Meklavar explained. "So I think this is a test of some sort."

"Why would Ciana test me?" Pike sighed as he reclined himself back on the bed.

Groaning as she did the same, Meklavar chuckled. "No, silly. It's the test of the Olde God."

Pike's ears twitched in interest for a moment before he turned on his side to face her. "The Olde God?"

"Yeah, the Olde God or the _Olde One_." She said softly. "That's who we, my family I mean, worship." Meklavar's voice grew distant again as she gestured to the ceiling while she entranced Pike and herself with whatever memory she had lost herself in. "The Olde God crafted and forged the world into being. He made everything, including our Fates." Meklavar turned slightly to meet Pike's gaze. "He knows what and where we're meant to be and go. He tests us and forges us in fire and ice."

Pike frowned and turned to face the ceiling completely. "That doesn't sound good."

"On the contrary," Pike began, "everything in life goes through tests: the caterpillar as it turns into the butterfly, the bird as it leaves its nest, the trees as they line the forest..." She listed. "We're all forged and sharpened and honed. That's life." Meklavar shrugged simply.

And perhaps to her it was simple, but to Pike it seemed intricate and delicate. Perhaps it was his distaste of all of the deities or his choice of ignorance that there was a greater purpose that drove him to fend for himself and steal and kill for bread. "I guess." He said after a moment."

Meklavar grinned as she bounced to her feet. "Well, enough of this. We're clear on what must be done." She beamed at Pike. "There's no one I'd rather bear our torch, Pike."

Pike allowed himself to return the comforting smile before he was jerked away from the moment by a knock on the door. Gyro's voice came floating into the room and it rang clearer than a crystal of the highest value. "Are you ready?"

"Coming!" Pike called back to the voice before turning back to Meklavar. He blinked in surprise at her smirking lips and knowing expression. "What?" He balked. 

"Nothing." She shook her head and Pike's stomach churned with whatever that attitude might mean. With much more confidence than what she had first strode into the room with, she moved to the door again. "Let's go."

Pike rolled his eyes with a groan. He threw his bag over his shoulder as he began to drag his feet to the door. Meklavar had already turned down the hall and Pike was left in the room for a moment. It struck him sometimes how the beds he stayed in never were the same. It was never familiar comforters or night stands set beside matching bedposts. Pike shook himself of the thought. He would do this and whatever treasures that Tychon had taken would be enough to buy himself a castle.

He closed the door behind him and turned, stopping just short of bumping into Valayun. He grinned sheepishly as he brushed off the lap of his trousers. Valayun rolled her eyes but Pike caught the corner of her smile as she turned. He followed her silently down the hall and it was only moments before they joined the party. Valayun adjusted the straps of her bow and quiver before clearing her throat.

"So, we had best be heading onwards then?" Her gently accented voice rang out before them. It fell like rain against Pike's skin as another strike against how serious this whole business was. The party remained silently but gently nodded. Voltron looked to each other before turning to face Gyro who was undoubtedly their unnamed leader.

Gyro inhaled and his body seemed to rise with it. Firm and large muscles now bulged under Gyro's armor and he looked almost a full head taller. He nodded solemnly. "Let's head on. We best make as much ground possible."

"We have Lady Paraskevi to meet too." Block chimed the reminder softly as he fell into step beside Gyro.

The paladin nodded again. His face was steeled and harsh. Pike recalled the set to his gaze when they were on their way to defeat the Coranic Dragon. "Yes." Gyro answered after a moment. "She will bless our quest and make short work of our travels."

Pike gave a soft huff under his breath. "If you say so." Gyro's smile in response was reassuring and gentle. It was also far too much for Pike to bear. He turned his fast heating cheeks away and began to stride toward the doors exiting the inviting Inn. Pike knew the others were following by the sound of their footfalls. He stretched a cocky grin across his face as the sun glistened off his sharp teeth. A new road and a new journey. Just another day.

The small trek on the road to the outside of Althean was quiet. Pike knew each party member was spending it in silent mediation. They each had their own journeys and yet... and yet they still had their journey together. They still had one sole purpose. It put certainty in Pike's steps as they traveled closer to the point that Paraskevi was supposed to be. 

Just as the goddess promised, beside the road stood Paraskevi. She appeared as the form she had taken when she posed as the mystic's assistant. Paraskevi smiled brightly as her mule brayed beside her. The colorful blooms that decorated the simple blanket that laid across the mule's back signified it was truly the Lady of Luck. She pulled her mule with her as she approached the party.

"Glad to see you could make it." She laughed. The mule beside her brayed again. "Shush, love. I know. They've been chosen." Paraskevi turned that brilliant smile back to the party as she nodded. "Nikephoros doesn't think your feet are good for walking long distances." The goddess teased lightly.

The paladin beside Pike seemed to jerk where he stood almost as if he were fighting to stand and not kneel before the goddess. "Your husband has quite the sense of humor, Paraskevi." He nodded his head in a polite bow to the mule.

Meklavar's eyes almost fell out of her head with how large they had gotten. " _Husband?!_ " She gaped for a moment.

Paraskevi grinned. "Yes. He's quite shy, so Nikephoros doesn't like to take a more... human form." She smiled adoringly towards the mule and it felt too private to intrude. Pike turned his head away from the scene as he listened. "Isn't that right?" The mule, Nikephoros, brayed again in response. Paraskevi's laugh rang like a bell.

Gyro bowed his head again in respect. "It's a pleasure, Lord Nikephoros." His gentle voice addressed the mule. The mule gave a sort of whinny as he nosed at Gyro's palm. The paladin's eyes widened slightly but he obliged and allowed the apparent god his palm. Pike shook his head in disbelief.

"So, how exactly are you supposed to be helping us?" Pike asked. His words may have sounded more brash and rude, but he could tell Paraskevi knew the intent behind them when her eyes twinkled with mirth. 

"I will lead you to your path." She explained. "After that, you will be alone. We will not be able to reach you on this path." Paraskevi frowned gently, clearly displeased by the idea. "We will do what we can, of course."

Block stepped forward gracefully. "Of course." He smiled and accepted the goddess' reassurance. "We can take care of ourselves when we must." Block turned to his companions. "It's why we're here together, isn't it?"

Paraskevi smiled gently. The affectionate gesture was almost motherly. In that moment it was no surprise that she was considered the Mother of Nomads. Pike could recall shrines to her on the paths he had taken. He had never worshipped her, but he knew plenty who had thanked her for their safe journeys. In a way, it was reassuring to know she was actually up there watching over them, but on the other hand it left a bitter taste in Pike's mouth that the gods' protective gaze had never been passed his way in his younger years. Grit and strain had protected him as he fought on the streets. Wherever his mind was traveling, Paraskevi seemed aware of it as her smile turned sympathetic and her eyes shined with a foreign sadness that seemed unfitting of her usually light demeanor.

"Follow me." She commanded softly to Voltron. She turned, directing her husband with her, before she was facing a small, off-beaten path. Pike could hardly recognize it as a road. The overgrowth of vines and trees that littered the dirt path hide the side road that veered off from the main traveling road. "Through here."

Wordlessly and without further command, the party followed carefully after Paraskevi. The thickets and low hanging limbs brushed against them as they marched down the winding path. Pike's nose scrunched against his face when a particularly low tree limb bounced back into his face from where Meklavar had pushed it out of her way. He huffed and rubbed at his face, pausing in his footsteps. His retort died on his tongue when he felt a large, warm hand place itself on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Came Gyro's gentle voice from beside him.

Pike gave another huff, but this one was to cover his flustered state as he took a step forward. "I'm just fine. Fit as a fiddle." He brushed the hand off with his movements.

Gyro blinked curiously at him. "Fit as a fiddle?" He echoed. "Is that another odd phrase your wanderings has found for you?" His lips quirked in amusement.

"Something like that." Pike could feel his cheeks heat as he quipped. "One of the first towns I had ever taken pause in used it often." He continued as he turned to move.

The paladin, despite his bulking armor, fell into step beside Pike on the small path. He hummed with interest. "Oh? Are their fiddles fit?"

Pike shot a sly smirk to his companion. "And their young men and ladies too." He winked teasingly as he continued. "They play their fiddles during their harvest moon festivals."

A soft gleam shone in Gyro's eyes as he gave a gentle laugh. It was almost a haunting melody that Pike knew would lurk in his dreams. "I should like to see that someday."

Something in Pike whispered to him. It whispered of the dangers of this path. Not the path beneath his feet, of course, but the path that lay beyond the sweet nothings that threatened to fall from his lips that he swore were reflected in the eyes of the paladin.

"Travel would suit you." He said as noncommittally. "I think you would like it."

"I would get lost without a guide, wouldn't I?" Gyro grinned playfully towards Pike, and Pike found himself walking closer beside him for it.

Pike nodded. "Perhaps. A guide for you would take nothing to find." His sharp teeth glistened even in the scarce light that peaked through the tree line. "Many people love to travel."

Gyro hummed in response. Comfortable silence befell them until Gyro broke it with a soft inquiry. "What about you?"

Pike could fell his heart seize in his chest. "What about me?" He asked carefully, not daring to meet Gyro's eyes.

"Do you like to travel?"

His ears fell back and his tail eased in its anxious sway. "Oh, yeah." Pike looked up towards the tree limbs that stretched across the path. The trees seemed to be getting taller the deeper they delved into the path. "I think that's why I do what I do. I like the travel, seeing new people."

Gyro's smile winded Pike for a moment. "I've enjoyed the people I've met on these journeys. I'd like to continue to do that." He turned his gaze back to the path, but the pink dust to his cheeks did not go unnoticed. "I'd like to experience everything that you whisper over the fire. The stories you tell in between destinations." His eyes grew distant for a moment and Pike wanted to follow wherever his mind had went. "When I avenge my temple and complete my goddess' will, I think I'll do that."

Pike blinked slowly before a small smile crept across his face. "You should." He nodded before he too turned his gaze to the path fully. "There's more to life than temple walls, Gyro."

"Yes." Gyro's voice sounded breathless. Pike turned to inspect the paladin but found only his warm gaze to meet him. "I've learned that much."

Heat of the most unbearable kind came upon Pike's face as he gulped harshly, swallowing any whispered words that begged to fill the space between them. "At least you've learned something." He raised a teasing eyebrow towards the paladin who merely rolled his eyes, though the fondness was still there.

"Voltron?" Any pleasant conversation was interrupted by Paraskevi's voice calling for their attention. The party turned to face her and paused in their steps. She smiled at them as behind her was a wall of limbs and leaves.

Valayun worried at her lip. "There is no path here, Paraskevi." She said cautiously. "How are we to pass?"

Paraskevi gave a short laugh. "Oh, no. This is not your first test." She waved the idea off. "Beyond this wall lies your path, and your first test."

"Test?" Block questioned from near the back of the party. "We weren't told of any test."

The goddess smiled comfortingly at Block's worry. "All epic tales have tests of might and will."

"And which test is this?" Meklavar stood beside Block as she frowned harshly, crossing her arms. The stout figure looking almost bulging in her armor as she stood defensively.

Paraskevi turned to her husband, sharing a smile, before turning back to the party. "The test of Body." She answered after a moment. "You will have three tests. The test of Body, the test of Mind, and the test of Heart."

Pike rolled his eyes as he nodded along. "Ah, sure. No problem." He smirked, slamming a fist into his open palm. "Let's get this show on the road."

Again the goddess smiled. There was a playfulness to her lips, though a weariness in her eyes. "Your confidence is admirable, Pike of the Ke'ii, but do not let it be your downfall." Her features grew more serious. "We are all counting on all of you to play your part."

With a flourish of her hand, the vines and limbs that were once intertwined unwound themselves. Like a mother releasing her child's hand for it to run and play, the green and wood revealed the rest of the path to the party. They gasped as they looked on in reverent silence. Paraskevi gave them one last smile. "Go forth, children. Stay to the path until it ends. After that, follow the traveller garbed in red. They will light the way with Ciana's Lantern."

Gyro's brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to say something, perhaps to do with _Ciana's Lantern_  when Paraskevi raised her hand to interrupt him.

"I must go. I have other duties." She gave her husband a gentle pat on the head. "Come, love. They will need all the luck they can get." She urged him sweetly.

Before their very eyes, the figure shifted. From its four legs that seemed to contort and stretch came two long legs and two sturdy arms. The figure twisted and turned as the spine stood erect and the worse bulged into a full ribcage. When the party had blinked away whatever ethereal glow had shifted Nikephoros they found no sign of the mule. Now stood a man of humble but handsome stature. His soft features were almost parental, much like Paraskevi's own. He stood before them draped with nothing but the blanket that had once been strewn about his back.

Nikephoros stepped forward, taking Pike's hands in his own. "Good luck." He whispered softly, and his voice sounded like the gentlest of songs and the sweetest of hummingbirds. It reminded Pike of the peaceful mornings on the trail. With nothing more, Nikephoros released Pike's hands and stepped back to stand with his wife.

Paraskevi smiled knowingly at the party. Something else was missing, and Pike couldn't place it. Perhaps it was that the gods were omnipotent and all knowing, and knew of the events and trials to come, or perhaps there was some other secret that was directed with a soft smile towards Gyro. Pike buried it for him to stew on later when he was less worried about what lied beyond what he could see of the path.

With a rather regal sort of air, Paraskevi raised her hands above her head. With three claps that boomed throughout the heavily wooded area, Paraksevi and Nikephoros disappeared in a shrouded mist, leaving nothing behind. It was almost as if the two had never been there in the first place. Wide eyes of the party searched for any sign of either god but found nothing. Valayun gave a heavy sigh.

"I suppose we're on our own for now, aren't we." It wasn't a question, but the party seemed to silently answer with their yes. Valayun stood in front of Pike. "Let's take the lead, shall we?" She offered the Ke'ii. "You and I are more familiar with the terrain."

Pike's expression grew more stern as he nodded. Valayun was right. If they had any hope navigating the thick underbrush then it was with Valayun and himself leading. "Yeah," he gave a cocky, sharp grin, "lead the way, princess."

Valayun rolled her eyes at the pet name, but her fond expression over came it. "Come along, _ninja assassin_."

"Aw, come on!" He whined in jest as he moved along further ahead of the party with her. "I totally _am_ a ninja assassin."

"A ninja assassin chosen by the Goddess of Light." Block reminded him in a songlike voice. "Kind of hard to keep up your tough guy persona."

Meklavar gave a laugh that sounded rather like a snort. "We were suppose to think he was tough?"

Pike pouted as he moved further, brushing off their teasings with his fast paced movements. He could hear Block's boisterous laughter, Valayun's giggles, Meklavar's snorting, and Gyro's chuckling. It was rather funny, he supposed. Some ninja assassin he was. He hadn't even had a contract for months before the Coranic Dragon. He was rather a failure even at being a ninja assassin. Pike sighed under his breath and his stance released of its tension. "Aren't we suppose to get a move on?" He threw over his shoulder with an unimpressed look.

Gyro cleared his throat of laughter before nodding. "Yes. We should move." The rest of the party relented in their gentle teasings and followed suit.

The underbrush and overgrowth were easily maneuvered around. Discovering the path hidden beneath their green hides was the true challenge. Luckily, Valayun and Pike _were_ more familiar with the terrain. They made quick work of navigating the hidden path with only minor inconveniences, namely Gyro's lumbering movements and Block's less than graceful steps. The bulky, holy men broke out into a sweat working around the loose hanging branches and thick foliage that hung in vines that draped across like thorny curtains for the trees.

"Maybe we should rest for a moment?" Block asked almost breathlessly. "I don't think I can keep this pace for much longer."

Valayun gave a huff of breath. "We'll fall behind our timeline if we aren't careful."

The Dwarf fighter groaned as she stomped her foot into the dirt. "We weren't given a timeline and I need to relieve myself."

Gyro gave a modest blush and it was rather endearing. "Maybe we should take a moments rest. I'm sure Tychon will still be there."

Valayun did not have much argument to that. If Gyro, with his personal vendetta to Tychon, could excuse a few stolen moments for breath then the rest of the party could. The elf sat heavily on a large stone covered with the vines and foliage that had decorated the off beaten path. She rested her chin in her palm. "It is a rather tiring trek."

Block shared the sentiment as he sat himself on the cool ground. "I can't wait till I can soak in a bath and enjoy it."

"Didn't you do that before we left Althean?" Meklavar called from where she hid in the green.

"Yeah, but now I'm gross again." Block bemoaned. "Why is it always through the woods? Why can't it be down stone paths?"

Gyro chuckled lightly as he took a seat beside Block. He crossed his legs as he sat, a rather difficult feat given his armor, but the paladin managed. "Well, I'm sure once we're through these woods it won't be too long until we're in your home village."

Block's eyes grew clouded with warm memories. "Yeah." He sighed wistfully. "It will be nice to visit home before we have to face Tychon." Block tilted his head to the side in thought. "You guys can meet my family, and the Elders, and-"

"Shara?" Pike finished for Block with a tease. The rising red to Block's cheeks was more than answer enough. Pike grinned with a mouth full of sharp teeth. "You always keep going on about her. I wonder if she's as beautiful as your poetic prose about her is." He thought aloud from his seat on a low hanging branch. His tail swung back and forth idly as he spoke.

Block's face was as red as the adornments of Pike's own jewelry. "She's just a nice friend." He defended. "And very gentle. And kind." He added, looking away to hide the deepening of his blush.

Gyro took mercy on the cleric with a gentle pat of his hand to Block's shoulder. "It's alright, Block." He smiled reassuringly. "I think it's nice that you have someone you're sweet on. Someone you'd like to go home to."

The paladin's words did nothing for Block's flushed cheeks. He crossed his arms for a moment. "...she's really nice." He said again, but it wasn't defensive. It was more like an admission, or a confession Pike had no right hearing.

Valayun sighed wistfully. "It's rather romantic, isn't it?" She swooned in her seat in her imaginings. "I'll bet she's waiting for you to come home too!"

Block cleared his throat as he willed his cheeks to cool. "What about you guys? Do you...?" He trailed off for a moment.

"No." Meklavar answered simply as she seated herself beside her companions. "I have other things on my mind than romance." She shrugged. "What about you, Valayun? Weren't you being courted before you came to find your family's gemstone?"

The elf sat straighter as she turned her face. "Well, it wasn't quite a courtship." She looked to her up facing palms that lay her in lap. "We were almost something." Valayun almost whispered. She shook herself of the thought. "What about you, Pike?"

Meklavar snorted another laugh. "You think Pike has a sweetheart somewhere?" She beamed, baring her teeth. "Haven't you heard of all of his conquests?"

Gyro and Valayun had the decency to blush. Pike crossed his arms with a huff. "Haven't you heard of the sailors?" He leaned down to face Meklavar more fully. "Their true love is the seas but they take lovers on land."

"I don't think that's the same thing." Block said softly in protest.

Gyro rubbed the heat from his cheeks. "Well, I think one's past shouldn't foretell their present or future."

The party turned to Gyro with interest. "Oh?" Meklavar cooed. "Does this mean the celibate paladin has a sweetheart he is enamored with?" She drawled out, the jest heavy on her tongue.

The paladin's eyes widened and he turned away with a blush. "We weren't celibate." He muttered to the side.

Pike's eyes widened. "Woah, are you telling us baby Gyro had his first kiss already?" He jumped from his perch to stand beside Gyro.

"Why? Are you jealous?" Meklavar quipped with her tongue held between her teeth.

Pike blushed in indignation. "I'm just surprised is all!" He defended with a flail of his arms.

Gyro looked up shyly to Pike. "Is it that surprising?" He asked genuinely.

Pike's heart stuttered in his chest. His breath hitched and blocked his words for a moment. Pike blinked away the storm cloud of emotions. "No, of course not. I'm just surprised you weren't 'married to your deity'." Pike gestured in the air to convey the term.

Laughing, Gyro grinned. "Paladins aren't _monks_ , Pike." Pike felt his whole body heat at his name off of Gyro's tongue. "We are dedicated to our mother, but we have families." His face turned sorrowful. " _Had_." Gyro corrected himself. The silence that draped the group was as solemn as his expression.

With a heavy heart, Pike sat down beside Gyro. "So..." he began, "this sweetheart of yours?" Even though every inquiry of whoever had stolen the paladin's heart drove a bitter stake deeper into the Ke'ii's heart, Pike pushed onward with his line of questioning.

"Yes." Gyro answered softly. He looked to Pike with some sort of purpose, some message that was spoken in a language Pike could not read. "I... did not imagine myself in this situation but I fear that..."

Valayun leaned off her stone seat to sit closer to Gyro, almost afraid to miss his whispered words. "Fear what?"

Gyro looked away shyly. The sudden seriousness of the situation seized Pike's heart in a fiery grip. This was not some passing infatuation. This was something deeper. Everything Gyro did, he did completely. It seemed like matters of the heart were no different.

"I fear that-" Gyro's words were cut short as a shrill shriek pierced through the air. The party stood, alert and aware. Gyro looked meaningfully to Pike. With nothing but a nod showing he understood, Pike jumped into the trees once again. He stalked across the branches towards the vocal intruder to their quiet. He hunched low and kept close to the bark as he walked.

Pike stilled his breathing as he drew near three figures. He could hardly make them out with their garbs. Their hoods hide their features, but not their movements. Pike watched them as they united hands, seemingly bowing their heads to a large, green bulb in front of them. As Pike looked further, he could see it was not just a bulb. The large greenery in the middle was some sort of plant. Its vines looked like tendrils laying dead beside the closed bulb. The hooded figures whispered words in an ancient tongue and the bulb began to shake. Pike jumped with a start, almost losing his footing. The branch beneath him shook and he gasped for breath. Quickly, he reached for his Invisibility Cloak draped across his back. Pike pulled it over himself like a blanket of fresh snow.

All three figures turned to where he sat. They seemed to look over the tree line, but thankfully spotted nothing of Pike. He sent up silent thanks before he withdrew the cloak from his person. When he once again had a clear field of vision, he could see that beneath the three figures sat a shivering young man. He quaked with fear and wide eyes. His pale skin seemed unfitting for the bright greens of this part of the forest.

Pike turned on his heel to send word to the others but froze in his movements. His eyes widened in horror as he watched the thick vines that had seemed like dead limbs to the bulb now crawl across the forest floor. Around fallen branches and over rocks, the vines twisted and moved with impossible speed. Pike held his tongue to keep his position, but moved with haste. In his haste, he nearly tripped over an odd shaped offshoot. Pike quickly righted himself as his feet hit the bark lightly, almost jumping with every step.

Thick leaves and thorny vines sped across the floor. In the blink of an eye, the vines swirled beneath Voltron's feet. Their ankles and calves were rapidly encased with the wooded tendrils. Pike watched as each of them swung fiercely and pulled heavily at the fast encroaching vines. Block's swift movements and Meklavar's might stood no chase against the unexpected. Pike landed heavily on the low hanging branch that had once been a safe perch. He gritted his teeth as he made to jump but was halted by three vines jerking to face him. They raised from the ground and made snake-like movements. Pike was reminded of a charmer that had tamed serpents in his travels. It had been enchanting. This was anything but. The threatening demeanor of the shadows they casted on Pike's face felt almost choking.

"Run!" Gyro had called to him. "Don't let them catch you!" The paladin had commanded. If there was anything that Pike was good at, it was running.

Faster than before, Pike quickly turned on his heel just as the vines and dragged the party to their knees and knocked them into a prone position. With a manner so slow that it seemed like an oncoming storm, the throne vines pulled the party across the forest floor it had once gracefully glided across. Pike looked to his side occasionally, causing him to misstep, but he had to keep his eye on them. He ducked from the whipping movements of the vines that chased him through the high trees.

"Ah!" Pike cried after he smiled into a thick trunk. He shook himself of the jarred feeling and made to move. One of the swift moving vines flicked beneath his feet, tripping him. He landed with a heavy thud against the branch. He flipped himself over quickly, belly bared as the vines almost hissed with their movements. Pike's eyes widened and he rolled. " _Ah_!" Came another cry as Pike landed on the solid ground. He heard a snap and he prayed it was a branch and not his shoulder. Pike jerked his head to face the diving vines and rolled out of their way. On quick feet, Pike caught up to the rest of the party and saw that the bulb had opened itself. Now, a beautiful bloom of sharp teeth blossomed across something like a face.

It grinned and the three shadowed figures stood to the side. The young man too was wrapped heavily with the wooden limbs. It looked almost like some sort of gift wrapped all for the carnivorous plant. The plant chuckled with delight as the figures continued their chantings. Pike turned to the figures with slanted eyes. He growled, baring his teeth, as he lunged for the nearest one. His sharp claws came up to the hooded figure's throat. The two fellow shrouded figures jumped with a start before moving to Pike and the third figure in his grasp.

Pike was quick, though. He dragged the third figure with him and bared his teeth. Sharp, dark claws pricked at the figure's throat. "Let them go, or else!" He threatened.

The figure in his grip laughed. "Foolish, mortal." The figured shook with its laughter. "We do not have them!"

The other two hooded figures nodded in agreement. "Yes." They said in unison. "The Great Devourer has chosen them. They should be honored."

Pike turned to the _Great Devourer_. It swayed lightly as it anchored Voltron to the ground beside the young man. The figure beneath Pike's grasp jutted a sharp elbow into his side, causing him to lurch. When he was buckled the figure hastily ran to their spot beside the other two. The figure removed the hood to reveal long, flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Her smirk twisted across her beautiful features. "Romu, help the Great Devourer with the first one." She lowered into a fighting stance Pike was all too familiar with. Low and quick. Light strikes but fast movements. "I'll take care of this one." She promised with a sneer.

Romu, the tallest figure, nodded before dashing to the young man who squirmed to free himself of his natural binds. His hood fell and Pike could catch the makings of a short beard. Shaking himself of the distracting thought, he turned back his fierce gaze to the woman in front of him. He reflected her stance without hesitation. He tilted his chin upwards in a taunting maneuver. "Let's dance."

Without further preamble, they did. They danced in fast movements and sharp claws. Upon closer inspection, being that Pike was so close to her in their combat, Pike could spy the makings of the Manj'ii on her figure. The Manj'ii were distant relatives of the Ke'ii. The Manj'ii had more of the blood of men and had not retained any of their feline like features. She moved just as fast was any Ke'ii Pike had every trained with. Sweat built up on his forehead as his breaths became shallow.

"Pike!" Gyro had called amidst his own struggling. Pike turned momentary attention to the paladin and met his wide eyed gaze. "The captive!" Gyro jerked his head in the direction of the Great Devourer.

Romu had successfully dragged the young man across the field towards the heaping mouth of the plant. The plant-like creature looked as if it were salivating, and that vision alone repulsed Pike enough that he almost lost his balance in his movements against the woman. He shifted his feet slightly, taking a more defensive position. He watched Romu out of the corner of his eye as the man struggled against him.

"Nala, hurry up!" Romu had called as he heaved the young man into the gaping mouth. Pike's eyes widened as he watched the nameless young man begin to slide down an ever impossibly large gullet. He ducked another one of Nala's increasing devastating punches and turned to face the plant. Romu's confident smirked beamed at him from beside the Great Devourer. Pike ran, head hanging low.

"Pike?" Pike heard the call of his name from beside him. He could easily guess it was someone from the party. His attention was elsewhere though. His attention was on the footsteps heavy behind him. His attention was on the smirk that slowly contorted into a look of confusion the closer he got. His attention was on the taller, lean figure leaning forward and preparing for a blow. His attention was on the heat of the Great Devourer's mouth as he dived in.

He could faintly hear his name being called with desperation, but it sounded too muffled to truly make out. Pike almost swam along the rather smooth inside of the Great Devourer. Heat and something almost like acid burned at his lungs as he tried to breath from where he moved. The plant monster, or whatever it was, had a lather large stomach that Pike finally plummeted into with less finesse than what was desired. He stood shakily and quickly looked around. He grinned when he spotted the nameless young man who stared at him with wide, bewildered eyes.

"What are you even _doing_ in here?!" The man demanded. " _Do you want to die too?!_ " 

Pike's grin was sly, and he knew it from the young man's reaction. Pike thought he must have looked deranged in that moment. A true mad man covered with the digestive fluids of an unknown creature as he pulled out his claws. "The best way through something is through its stomach." He quipped as he moved towards the lining of the creatures stomach.

The young man pulled at his hair. "The stomach is the same thickness from outside to in!" He shouted deliriously. "You're going to get us _both_ killed!" He nearly shrieked before a coughing fit ripped him of his words. "We'll both burn and die in this stomach."

The thief gritted his teeth as he began to slice. "Not if I can help it." He rasped out before falling into his own coughing fit. He reached for the dagger at his side and threw it to the young man. He stumbled to catch it, but eventually caught it between his wrists. He looked to Pike questioningly as he righted it in his grip. "Slice." Pike demanded.

Understanding washed over the young man's features as he began to slice away at the stomach. The acid's rose and Pike could hear the creature roar. It was almost painful to his sensitive ears, but he focused his breathing, focused everything on this. Slicing deep, hard, and quick. Patience yields focus. Mantras that kept him going. He only paused when the young man began to stumble in his movements.

"Do you want to live?" Pike had demanded to the man. The stomach walls oozed and bled as they took down layer after layer. Pike could feel that they were almost there. He could feel it in more than just beneath his fingers as he sliced away. He could feel it in some sort of gut instinct. Guts were not a pleasurable thought at the moment, but the feeling was Pike's only comfort. It truly was a stupid idea. He could have just as easily disposed of the cultists and then gutted the plant, but he had no idea if the monster would have already finished swallowing the stranger.

The stranger coughed aggressively before nodding. He wiped at his brow. "Yeah." He said breathlessly. He took one torturous breath before slicing at the thinning walls again with renewed vigor. 

Pike knew not how long it had been. It seemed like minutes and yet only hours. His breathing was labored as he heard screams. They sounded like Voltron. He bared his teeth, finishing slicing at the stomach. He could see something like daylight. He pushed his hand through the opening, spreading it further. The young man beside him scrambled to help. He shoved his hands through and together they tore the stomach. Pike knew it seemed impossible, and knew not where he had gotten the strength to slice through the creature's enormous stomach. Perhaps the creature was softer built than he had initially thought. Whatever the blessing or cause, Pike gasped for air when the both of them were able to force their heads through.

"Pike!" He heard the cry of his name. He wiped the fluids from his face and blinked his vision clear. The party looked pale and relieved. Pike chose not to put too much thought into how that warmed his heart.

"The Great Devourer!" Romu cried out. Nala fell to her knees beside him. They gaped tearfully at their fallen deity. Deity? Underlord? Whatever the creature had been to them, it was now a bleeding beast. It did not even have the strength to whimper from the damage done to its sternum.

Pike climbed out, stumbling over the large creatures shriveled vines. He turned, helping the stranger out as best he could. When he released the stranger from his helping grasp, he turned. Pike gave a near squeak when he was met with cool armor surrounding his slime covered form.

"I thought you were lost." Gyro whispered into his hair. The fresh coolness of his armor combated Pike's warming cheeks. "Do not do such reckless things."

Swallowing the thick, burning lump in his throat, Pike could only nod. It seemed to do for Gyro released his tight hold on him. When Pike looked over his armored shoulder, he could see Valayun's bow at the ready and Meklavar standing aggressively behind the kneeled cultist. "What do we do with them?" Meklavar growled the words, almost spitting on the trio.

Block turned to face the stranger. "Let me take a look at you. I'm a healer." He said softly. His reassuring smile spoke only truth as he stepped towards the stranger. 

The stranger laughed lightly and waved his hand. "Thank you, but I'm alright."

"Alright?" Pike echoed. "You were dying back there!" His brow furrowed in confusion as he stepped closer.

"And so were you." The sly look of the stranger was as foreboding as it was confusing. The stranger's words seemed to have reminded Block that was the case as the cleric turned to face him.

Block chewed at his lip while looking Pike over carefully. "You look badly hurt. We should tend to the both of you."

The stranger's smile glowed under the slowly setting sun. "I said before, I need not tending." Chuckling, he shook his head. "You're good at many things but not listening."

He turned to face Pike fully before stepping towards the Ke'ii. Pike's tail swayed anxiously as he moved closer. Gyro seemed to have sensed this, or perhaps even read it off of Pike's tight form. The paladin moved slightly in front of Pike in a defensive manner. The stranger paused and looked to Gyro curiously before shaking his head. "Oh, do be calmer about it." The stranger teased. "You've passed the test of Body, Pike of the Ke'ii."

Pike could feel the party blink around him. "What?" He vocalized their confusion. "This was all a test?"

The stranger hummed thoughtfully. "Not quite." He turned to face the cultist. "They were trying to sacrifice me to their pagan god." He crossed his arms. "They believed he would obtain my power that way."

"Your power?" Block repeated carefully. "Are you...?"

"Yes." The stranger nodded before snapping his fingers. Gone was the form that glistened with a disgusting residue and now stood a shining, handsome figure that had a face of granite. "I am Akshay, God of the Ever Growing Greens."

Pike gave a small huff. "Is every deity in the heavens going to see us on this quest?" He inquired haughtily. "Why could you not all go yourself?"

"Pike." Gyro warned but the god merely looked amused.

"He can steal and corrupt what we have." Akshay replied simply. "All you'll do is die."

Valayun lowered her bow slighty, still resting the arrow head by Romu's form. "That's very cynical of you."

The god looked bittersweet. "It's the best I can do." He shrugged. "Either way, you've passed and you have the blessing of the land with you." 

Gyro and Block both bowed their heads in respect. "Thank you." Block said softly.

"Don't thank me." Akshay chuckled. "You still have two more tests." He shook his head. "Go now. Soon you'll meet the traveller in red." Akshay turned and brushed past Block to stand in front of the cultist. "Don't worry about them. I'll take very good care of my _guests_." His emphasis on the word was disdainful. Pike almost shuttered with the menacing intent behind it.

Meklavar nodded. "We'd best move before we lose daylight." She said worriedly. "Come on." She beckoned as she left the cultist to the will of Akshay.

The party shared a look with one another before slowly turning to make their way past the pagan god that laid before their feet. Pike would brag about his slaying of a pagan god after he no longer smelled of said pagan god's insides. He shuttered for an entirely difference reason as he coughed the acidic like liquid from his lungs.

"One more thing," Akshay spoke softer as he turned to look at them, "say hello to my lover for me." With a booming clap, just as the other gods before him had done, Akshay vanished with a blink. Where the cultist had stood frozen to their spots now lay burnt grass. Pike grimaced before turning away.

"That was..." Pike began.

"Stupid." Meklavar finished for him. The Dwarf''s glare was fire to Pike's skin. "That was the _stupidest_ , most _insane_ thing you have ever done!" She reprimanded fiercely. "Why in the _Hells_ would you do that?!"

Pike shrugged, keeping his pace even as the party slowed beside him. "Something had to be done." He said simply. "I wasn't going to let him die."

Block's gentle frowned pulled Pike to his pace and kept him there. "You're usually not so reckless, Pike." He said softly. "This championship has not gotten to your head, has it?"

"What?" Pike gaped. "No, of course not!"

"You're only mortal." Block continued undeterred. "You're usually more cautious."

Pike sighed, looking away. "I don't... know." He said after a moment. "I just know I couldn't leave him there to die." Pike glared to the grass around his feet. "Even if he was a god would could have clapped himself out at any time."

Gyro rested a warm palm on Pike's shoulder. "You didn't know that at the time." His smile was barely there, but even the smallest hint of it warmed Pike's chest. "It was reckless, but brave." His brow again set in that worried state. "Don't do it again." Gyro warned.

"Well, next time when you're not a damsel in distress, I'll think about it." Pike teased.

"Oh?" Meklavar's infliction was the only warning Pike had. "You wanted to save little ol' Gyro?" She teased, batting her eyes in a way only Pike could see.

Pike gave an awkward chuckle that he tried to disguise as a scoff. "You all needed saving from those vines!" He defended. "You would have been eaten!"

The huntress, the gift that she was, either took pity on Pike or was unaware of Meklavar's teasing. She moved to kiss Pike's cheeks softly. "Thank you." She grinned to Pike. Had the kiss been at the start of their journeying together, Pike might have teased or been coy about it. Now it was much too familial and warm for him to think anything else of it. Valayun had an uncanny ability to remind him of his other sister, and he always wondered how both Valayun and Meklavar could be gentle reminders of home while he still _missed_ home.

Again he shook himself of the warming thoughts. "You're welcome." He nodded. "Now we have to find this traveller. What were they wearing again?"

"A red cloak?" Block hummed in thought. "And they're suppose to be carrying Ciana's Lantern." He recalled as they moved along. Block turned to look at Gyro. "You would know more about that than I."

Gyro's face contorted into one of careful concentration. His brow furrowed deeply as he huffed, shaking his head. "That, I fear, has been troubling me deeply." Gyro looked to the party who had paused in their steps to look at him. "Ciana's Lantern is a legend, of course. She carried the first light into the world and placed it in the sky."

"The sun?" Valayun questioned cautiously as she moved towards Gyro.

The paladin shook his head. "No, it's a star." He turned his face upwards to the dusk painted sky. "We should be able to see it soon, but I have no idea as to the traveller who bears it."

Meklavar crossed her arms and gave an aggravated huff. "Of course it has to be riddles." She groaned. "We have to wait until the stars come out?"

Valayun turned her gaze skywards and hummed. "With all that has transpired, dusk should have finished its journey soon."

"Good." Pike grimaced. "Maybe I can find somewhere to wash off then."

"Next time you'll think twice before jumping into the belly of a beast." Block teased, smirking as he nudged Pike with his shoulder. Pike rolled his eyes but returned the playful gesture.

The huntress titled her head. Her long ears twitched for a moment as she stood in silence. Slowly, but surely, a soft glowing grin spread across her face. "I hear running water!" She gripped Pike's hands in her own. "Come along!" She beckoned the others as she dragged Pike behind her. The ground beneath them was a hard trek, as they had lost their path long ago, but Valayun lead them carefully across the forest.

True to her words, a small waterfall fell into a trickling river of some sort. Pike gasped before running straight toward the clear running water. "Last one in is a Snorgaplux!" He shouted, stripping himself of his gross attire as he went. He knew he would have to wash them later, but for now he longed to scrub his skin and fur clean of the slime that clung to his form. The water was cool and he nearly moaned at the feeling it sent down his spine, easing the tension he hadn't realized had stored in his shoulders.

He faintly heard the shouts and laughter of his fellow party members. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to float for a bit. A rather loud splash disturbed his peaceful meditation. He glared at the offending figure. Block smiled to him sheepishly, but it wasn't enough to keep the roguish grin off Pike's face. With one fell swoop of his hand, a great splash soaked Block's now gaping form. He blinked once and then twice.

"Oh, no you don't!" Block grinned as he slammed against the water, sending another wave crashing into Pike. Pike's reply was a shriek that morphed into a sort of giggle.

He moved to retaliate, but his sharpshooting aim was a tad off. Meklavar gasped for a moment. Pike slowly moved away from the impish form that stalked towards him. "Oh, sorry. I meant to hit Block." He had said with a choked laugh before gasping for air when cold water hit his back. He turned around to look at Valayun in betrayal.

"Like that?" She smirked and Pike could almost see the hand resting on her hip in an almost wicked posture.

It was an all out war after that. Brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters.  They laughed and giggled as they splashed about and Pike could feel the tightness in his chest unfurl and melt away from his bones. He laughed loudly, almost throwing his head back, but paused upon seeing Gyro still sitting near the shore. He raised an eyebrow and carefully ducked and rolled from the splashing waves that threatened to carry him away. He strode in the shallow waters and tilted his head.

"The water is nice." Pike promised to the paladin who had already shifted out of his armor.

Gyro smiled softly and nodded. "It seems like it." He chuckled. "I suppose I'm just content to sit here."

Pike rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Come join us." He invited. "You must desire a bath too, surely?"

"I'm not sure this is an efficient way to bathe." Gyro laughed gently, even as he grabbed Pike's hand.

Pike's cheeks glowed a soft pink making them almost itch with their heat. He opened his mouth aimlessly for some moments as he tried to form words. Whatever words he hadn't spoken must have reached Gyro. Gyro's face softened and his smile grew softer and barely there. The paladin's fingers shifted, almost intertwining with his own. Pike knew he had to draw his hand away. He was never afraid of water, but he was afraid of drowning in this. Not just the moment, but perhaps all of it. Perhaps Gyro himself.

"Guys, look!" Meklavar shouted as she pointed to the sky.

Gone was the colors of dusk and now a blanket of twilight shrouded the world. Bright, twinkling stars patterned the night sky and Pike was lost to it, entranced by it. He swallowed thickly and turned his gaze back to Gyro, but Gyro was no longer looking to him. Gyro stood, releasing Pike's hand and for once Pike admitted to missing it. Even if the confession was to himself. Gyro beamed towards the starlight. "There it is." He breathed.

"There what is?" Valayun questioned as she swam closer, striding carefully in the shallow waters.

Gyro pointed, just as Meklavar had, upward. "There. Ciana's Lantern. It's the brightest star beside the Archer." Pike watched as the paladin turned to look at him just as Valayun paused beside him. Gyro's gaze looked something like an intense emotion, but nothing like the heat of battle. Pike couldn't place it.

Block hummed, nodding his he'd thoughtfully. "So, now we look for the cloaked traveller?" His brow furrowed. "But where are they?"

As if Block had spoken the being in question into existence, the stars twinkled brightly for a moment. The party watched with awed silence as the stars twinkled and shifted. Swirling into whimsical patterns, the stars formed some sort of figure. Ciana's Lantern moved and danced with the shifting stars. Before their very eyes, the figure's feet stepped down from the sky, touching the grass a distance from where the party had gather.

The figure's smile twinkled under the still glistening sky. A pale arm held out a small lantern from beneath their cloak. The traveller waved. "Hello, Voltron." The voice spoke softly.

"Are you the Traveler, my Lady?" Valayun asked carefully, head tilting, as she examined the figure.

"It's Lord today." The figure corrected gently. "And yes. I am Ascelin, the Deity of Navigation and Stars." Ascelin laughed gently. "Sailors worship me the most, but even those in the deepest of forests can spot me." The god held up the lantern in his hand. "And Ciana's Lantern."

Gyro bowed his head. "I did not see stars often." He said respectively. "I apologize for not recognizing you, my Lord."

Ascelin clicked his tongue. "Tsk, think nothing of it, Gyro." He beamed and the stars shone in his gaze. "Besides, Ciana has charged me with guiding people. I don't stay in the same place often." The gentle smile fell somewhat and his features became downcast. "It is not too often I find myself over the Arashi Forest."

"The Arashi Forest?" Meklavar parroted back. "So that's the name for this place." She murmured more to herself than to the deity.

"Yes." Ascelin spoke gently. "My trips here are the ones I value the most." His face grew serious as he inspected the party. "You had best be worth it."

Pike inhaled sharply. This was Akshay's lover. It did not take someone of Meklavar's brilliance to piece together that this was one of the few times that Ascelin was able to reunite with his lover. Ascelin was sacrificing this time to guide them. Even as Pike denied himself of those sort of attachments, he knew the importance, the significance of them. "What we're doing is." Pike answered after a moment of silence.

Gyro gave him a meaningful look that the party seemed to share, but Pike paid it no mind. He remained focus on Ascelin. Ascelin hummed as he looked the thief over. Finding something that he must have been looking for, he nodded in approval. "Good." The deity spoke kindly. "I shall be your last guide before you reach the Soft Soils."

"If we're so close to the Soft Soils, why didn't you recognize the forest, Block?" Meklavar inquired as they moved to retrieve their full clothings, making haste with reattaching their things.

Block gave an embarrassed laugh. "I've never been on this side of the forest before." He shrugged. "Besides, we still have quite a ways, and we of the Soft Soils hardly stray from home."

After Pike had clasped his Invisibility Cloak across his chest, he turned to face Gyro. With deft steps, Pike was beside him in an instant. He watched as Gyro paused in his motions of dressing in his armor. Wordlessly, Pike took the straps of Gyro's pauldrons in his hands and tied them off. He spared Gyro a glance from the corner of his eye and expected a questioning sort of gaze. He had an answer of _quick work so we can move along_ on his tongue but it died in his mouth upon seeing Gyro's soft features. He turned away from Gyro's gaze and finished his work with a flare of his hands.

"Ta- _da._ " He teased softly as he gave a flourish of his tail with a bow of his head.

Gyro laughed short and breathless. "Thank you, Pike."

Pike fought to keep himself from chewing at the side of his mouth. "You're welcome." The Ke'ii whispered as he was almost unaware of their proximity. Gyro's breath ghosted along his skin like a haunting melody of a forgotten dream. Pike turned quickly and made to stretch his limbs. "We should move on before Ciana's Lantern leaves our vision." Pike had jested as he made to move. The heavy hand on his shoulder paused his movements.

"Pike," Gyro began softly, "I should like to speak with you in private." Upon hearing Meklavar shout for their attention, Gyro was pulled from whatever held his gaze so intensely. "...when we have the moment to spare." He added, hesitant and shy.

The thief could deny Gyro nothing when he looked to him like that. Pike feared that if Gyro turned that gaze upon him and asked him to stay, Pike wold merely ask _how long?_ How far under the paladin's spell he had fallen was terrifying. More terrifying than facing an evil god. "Of course." His voice rasped. "When we have the moment." Pike would just have to make sure they never had a moment, wouldn't he? They had too many moments. All too petrifying and all-consuming and wonderful.

Gyro's smile was small and his batting eyelashes complimented his glowing features. He ducked his head and nodded. "Thank you." He whispered and the sound was the song Pike's heart hummed to.

"Of course." Pike almost choked on his words. "Let's go." He grinned nervously toward the paladin before turning swiftly on his heel and retreating from the situation.

The look that he was met with when he entered Ascelin's field of vision was paralyzing. Pike gulped for a moment as his heart quaked in his chest, fearing he had been caught. Ascelin peered into his very soul with his gaze before smiling slowly. "Every moment is a treasure." He eventually spoke. "And you, thief, would know all about that."

Pike did feel like the cat who had gotten the cream. Even without his fast beating heart in Gyro's presence, every moment with the party felt stolen. Almost like the moment was not for him, and someone else should have been on that journey with them. But here he was, and he was selfish. He had never gotten to keep anything, really. Things sold for money to send home, but this? These moments? He would very much take the moniker of thief for them. Just until it was too dangerous and too sentimental and he had to leave before the wine spoiled in his mouth.

Ascelin turned away from him and beckoned the party with a nod of his head. "Follow me. You'll have to pass through the Temple of Knowledge." He informed them.

"The Temple of Knowledge?" Block questioned. "I have never heard word of a Temple in this forest."

"You wouldn't have." The god chuckled. "It is forgotten and lies in ruin." Ascelin went on. "All who pass fear the aberration who resides in it."

Valayun nodded, listening attentively. "The aberration?" She inquired. "I know somethings about aberration."

Again Ascelin chuckled. "You know nothing about this aberration." He shook his head. "Slamet is like no other. Even those who reside in his realm abhor him, and that's why he's been banished to here."

Meklavar raised a curious eyebrow. She walked closer to Ascelin as she spoke. "Why not? Is he that evil?"

"Oh, no." Ascelin waved off the concerned glances. "He isn't malicious. He is... troublesome." The deity shrugged. "He knows many things of many realms. Slamet can be..." The god chewed at his lip as he waved his hands about in search for the word. "...overbearing with his knowledge. Knowledge is why he took refuge in the temple."

Pike groaned as he kept pace with the group. "Let me guess, test of the Mind?" He huffed.

"You're catching on quickly." Ascelin quipped. "You'll need to be sharp if you want to pass through the temple."

Block nodded. "All of us together have done many an impossible thing." He encouraged. "We can do it."

The god paused in his steps. He turned to face the party fully and smiled gently. "Keep that faith in each other." His frown worried his features. "I'm afraid you'll need it. It may be the only thing you have to combat Tychon."

Gyro's face was solemn. With every step they moved closer to him avenging the people who raised him. His family. Pike had not thought of it quite like that before, but he could understand Gyro's determination to pass. Pike felt it course through him and by the looks of the rest of the party, they had felt it too. They all felt it. All of them connected to this one moment they were hurtling towards. And every time Pike felt close to forgetting that, something would throw the very truth in his face. He would swallow his pride and the truth, hide it in his chest far away from the darkness within him that concealed Ciana's Mark.

The path was just as treacherous, if not more so. The heart of the forest was deep and thick. They had nothing but Ciana's Lantern for light beneath the darkness of nightfall. Ascelin seemed to have known the way by heart, but that did not ease the path's stumps and crevices that threatened Pike's balance with the slightest of shifts. Pike sighed heavily in the night as he righted his footing again. He leaned himself against the secure weight of Block next to him. Block hummed, acknowledging Pike's added weight, but said nothing else.

"Hey, Pike?" Block called Pike out of their silent companionship. Pike raised an eyebrow in reply. Block's eyesight must have adjusted to the darkness, or the lantern was enough, as he continued. "Does Gyro seem... off to you?"

Pike furrowed his brow. "You mean because we're hunting the god who killed his temple?" He said soft enough for only Block to hear.

Block flushed, shaking his head. "I mean, of course because of that. Who wouldn't be?" He stumbled for a moment. "I meant... I had meant..."

Lost entirely to Block's point, Pike raised a curious eyebrow. He silently asked the question of how had Gyro seemed off.

The cleric gave a meaningful look to Gyro, and then to Pike. Whatever answer he was waiting for he didn't receive from the indication of his sigh. He waved Pike off. "Never mind. It must be the lack of sleep." Block rubbed at his face to keep himself awake.

"I can't wait until we can have rest in an actual bed." Meklavar bemoaned dramatically.

Valayun giggled, smirking playfully. "It hasn't been longer than a moon phase, Meklavar."

"Which is far too long." Meklavar grinned as she pushed at Valayun. The elf pushed back with just as much force, laughing softly as she did so.

The laughter slowly died down as the adventurers paused behind Ascelin's still form. He held the Lantern an arm's length in front of him. "There it is." He said softly. The Lantern's bright glow illuminated the outline of an ancient temple. What once might have been a splendorous form was now nothing but ruins swallowed by the heart of the forest. Ascelin turned slowly back to the party. The Lantern gave his features a somber tone. "Good luck, heroes." He nodded before brushing past the party.

"Thank you, Lord Ascelin." Gyro addressed his retreating form.

The god turned his head over his shoulder to smile softly at Gyro. "Of course." He laughed softly, and Pike was certain it would be the last soft sound for as long as it took them to traverse the temple. "I'll watch over you as long as I can." A slender finger pointed to the place in the sky the deity had once taken up.  Ascelin winked before his form twinkled into stardust. The glowing wisp like form twirled into the twilight, taking back its place in the sky. The once bright Lantern hung high in the sky as it shone like a diamond. Pike felt tempted to see if he could reach up and pluck it from the midnight sky.

Pike took in a fortifying breath before he turned to the party. "I guess we go, don't we?" It was less a question, and more Pike looking for reassurance. After they entered this temple, they would be though it and into the Soft Soils. The Soft Soils would be right in the shadow of their destination. Inches and inches closer to Tychon made the distance creep up Pike like a childhood fear.

The Elven ranger nodded. "Yes." She breathed out softly. "We do."

In silent accord, the party moved into the corpse of the Temple of Knowledge. Its decayed life darkened the forest even in the dark of the night. Bleak and dismal stone laid before the party's feet as they moved carefully across the floors, almost haunting the temple like a ghost of its past. Pike's eyes traveled along the long forgotten stonework that walled the temple and once protected it from the weathering of the forest. Things that had once been etched into high archways now seemed like the claw marks of an ancient beast that had taken residence in the temple. He supposed they might have been, if Slamet was anything to behold like any other aberration that Pike had heard tale of from Valayun and Meklavar.

"So, how do you think Slamet will test us?" Pike asked casually, softly, as they moved forward.

Meklavar hummed as she bent over some rubble and examined the temple's remains. "Well, if he values knowledge, it will probably be a test."

Block nodded. "Oh, well you know so much, and Valayun knows much of the Far Realm." He smiled gently. "If all he wants is an answer, I'm sure we can provide it."

"Unless it's something obscure." Valayun added uncertainly. "About this temple, you or Gyro would know more than I."

The aforementioned paladin moved as swift as a tide despite his steel like frame. "Except this is Pike's Quest."

Gaping, Pike turned on his heel. "Excuse me?" He questioned.

"This is your quest." Gyro repeated as an explanation. "We were all sent on this quest, but it is you who carry Ciana's Championship." He pressed on. "It is you who passed the test of Body."

Pike's eyes widened. He looked back and forth inside the belly of the temple, looking for some sort of way out of this. "No, this is for _all_ of us. It was just luck that I-"

"It was luck that you jumped head first to save Akshay from the Devouring One?" The unimpressed eyebrow that Gyro had sent his way almost tripped Pike where he stood. "It has to be you to pass this test." Gyro's voice was not harsh in tone, but something about it was striking. "Whatever it is."

Swallowing harshly, Block moved closer to Pike. The cleric rested a hand on the Ke'ii's shoulder. "I think Gyro is right." He said simply. "Whatever may pass, it has to be you who proves yourself."

"We all have our own quests." Valayun agreed. "But you have the quest of a goddess."

Meklavar turned from her examinations to pin Pike with a look that he couldn't quite translate. "You have to know quite a bit from your travels." She stepped toward him, crossing her arms. "We'll make sure you're ready."

Gyro smiled softly. It made Pike squirm in his spot from the center of the semi circle the party had formed. "Together." He promised gently and Pike felt compelled to believe him, even if prior that he had no doubt in the paladin.

" _Togther_." Pike breathed carefully. "H-how do we do this?"

The twisted grin Meklavar shot Pike pierced him like one of Valayun's ice covered arrows. " _We_ test you of course."

Block shared the mischievous grin with Meklavar. "Trivia?"

"Trivia." Meklavar nodded in solemn agreement. Pike hadn't known what trivia meant, but he knew he soon would. As unfortunate as that might have been.

Trivia, as Pike had suspected, had not been a fun game. In fact, Pike would call its term of a game as a gross exaggeration. The questions Block and Meklavar's twin grins threw at Pike came faster than Burvorian arrows. He felt his forehead bead with sweat as he stumbled over his words the further they got along in what Block and Meklavar had coined a game.

"Give it some rest." Gyro interrupted. "He'll need it." He smiled kindly and Pike felt relieved and overwhelmed all at once. 

Valayun stalked further down the hall with her bow drawn. The fletching tickled her cheek as she quietly stepped over the rubble and debris that tried to cloud her way. Her eyes flickered to and fro as she examined the high archways that crumbled beside her feet. "It shouldn't be much further." She stated softly. "It looks as if we're close to the center.

Pike gulped before nodding carefully. Anxiety clawed at his throat as he turned from the foreboding shadows that lie ahead.

"You'll do great." Gyro reassured him gently. "Lady Ciana wouldn't have chosen you if she didn't think you could."

Huffing, Pike rolled his eyes. "She chose me because my soul is dark enough to hide her light."

Gyro's brow furrowed. "No, I don't think so." 

"She literally said that, Gyro." Pike argued. "You can't tell me she hadn't meant that." His arms waved about as he spoke animatedly. 

"She said you would be less recognized." The paladin sighed. "You're more than your shadows, Pike." He spoke earnestly. "Only the light can cast shadows."

Pike turned away from Gyro, crossing his arms and securing himself in his own embrace. "She wanted me because I'm a thief. She agreed to that."

A soft sigh lifted Pike's chin and turned his gaze to Gyro. "You're good at what you do, Pike. You are not what you do." His smile was like the Illithian wine that Pike had tasted so long ago. Pike's mind almost wandered with that thought, but he reeled his dangers thoughts in even as he flushed. "I believe in you."

The heat in Pike's cheeks was unbearable as he ducked his flustered state away from Gyro's sight. "...thank you." Pike said after a moment of silence had passed between the two. Taking a chance, Pike peered from beneath is lashes to stare at Gyro. He could hear the paladin's small intake of breath. "I believe in you too." Pike confessed softly.

Gyro's expression turned radiate even in the dim light. It glowed and Pike found himself no longer questioning how his brilliant light could be so recognizable. "I believe that is the highest honor to have been bestowed upon me."

Before Pike could respond, almost as if some higher force had always kept them from tumbling into whatever they were slowly burning into, Valayun hissed for their attention. They turned a quarter on their heels to face her fully. She crouched so low that the tips of her silk hair grazed the stone pathway. Valayun gestured them closer with a wave of her hand. The Elven warrior stood at full height as she pointed with a notched arrow further down the hall where even Pike's eyes could not see.

"There stands a creature of some sort against a stone throne." She whispered quietly. "He seems distracted, but I think it is Slamet."

Meklavar stood beside her squinting as she did. "We need to approach with caution."

"But he's expecting us, isn't he?" Pike questioned curiously as he moved beyond the sentry of the two women. "It doesn't matter if we approach from behind or not."

Raising an eyebrow, Block inquired. "Aren't you usually for sneaking about?"

Pike rolled his eyes and smirked. "When it benefits me." He shrugged his shoulders of the slowly growing tension. "Might as well get this over with."

"The Ke'ii is correct in his assumptions." A strangely accented voice sang throughout the ruins. "Although assuming is terrible when you could use statistics. In more than 34% of the realms, it is correct to approach me where I can see you." The voice rambled on as Pike and the party slowly made their way closer to the large figure.

Long, lithe and blue arms sprawled across where the figure laid on the lap of the stone throne. Wide eyed and erratic, the figure seemed to twitch from his position against the stone. "Then again, had this been in any of the other realms and you had, I would have already ran. I am at a 56% of survival by running right now." Slamet silenced for a moment. "You aren't going to slay me, are you?"

"Not unless we have to." Meklavar half promised and half threatened. Valayun took her place beside her with an equaling threatening glare.

Block clicked his tongue with disapproval as he stepped forward with Pike. "We've come to pass your test of Mind."

"You mean the Ke'ii has, yes?" Slamet began. "Unless this is a realm within the 87% of them where it is another of your party chosen by Ciana." He counted on his irregularly numbered hand. "But I suppose in only 42% of these is it I who tests you."

Gyro huffed an irritated breath, crossing his arms. "Perhaps you should get on with this testing?"

Slamet and the party blinked in surprise at Gyro's shortness. It was rare that the stoic paladin was ever irked, and it seemed that Slamet had succeeded in doing so. "Well, I suppose so. Yes." He spoke after a baffled moment. "W-would you step forward, please?" He addressed Pike even as he eyed Gyro carefully.

The Ke'ii looked to Gyro, who only gave a tight smile, before stepping toward the towering form of the aberration. "Lay it on me." Pike slammed his chest in a taunting gesture. "I can do anything."

The rather awkward expression that graced Slamet's features contorted before he beamed with a high brow. "I have for you a riddle."

Block's eyes widened as he spun to face Meklavar. "We didn't think about riddles!" He exclaimed in a stage like whisper.

Meklavar groaned, burying her face in her hands. "We're doomed."

"He can do it." Valayun encouraged, pumping her fist toward her in a confident stroke.

Slamet cleared his throat and coiled further in the stone throne. Seated fully, he stretched his arms before settling into a comfortable position.

 

_"I am a wonderful help to woman,_

_The hope of something to come._

_I cause no harm except to my slayer._

_Rooted, I stand on a high bed._

_I am shaggy down below._

_The peasants' daughters, eager and proud,_

_Grabs my body and rushes my skin._

_They hold me hard and claim my head._

_The curly haired women who catch me,_

_They will feel our meeting with wet eyes."_

 

Valayun's nose scrunched against her face in distaste. "Do aberrations usually speak in such vulgar tongue?"

Slamet blinked curiously. "What do you speak of?" He quirked his head. "It's part of the riddle. He has to answer it."

The Dwarves fighter rolled her eyes and turned. "I suppose Pike would know this one, wouldn't he?"

"Meklavar!" Block reprimanded as Gyro blanched beside him. "Be polite." 

"He speaks of his conquests all the time." Meklavar bemoaned. "He would know this one. It's fitting."

Block shook his head in resignation as Gyro's form silently shook for a moment. Pike turned away from his companions and their odd countenance towards the riddle. He raised an eyebrow to Slamet before resting his chin in his palm thoughtfully.

Meklavar huffed. "It's easy, Pike." She waved her hands vehemently. "Just answer it."

"Perhaps there is something more than face value to it." Gyro offered after a moment.

"And then the test is for Pike?" Valayun hummed. "Would it not make sense to try to push his limits?"

Nodding after a moment, Meklavar frowned. "Yeah, I guess that would make sense. What's out of his range of knowledge?"

Block bit at his lip. He chewed his words before carefully placing them in the air. "Well, Pike is well travelled but hasn't spent much time on one course of study."

Pike ran his fingers through his hair and pulled at the strands. He groaned softly as he scrunched his features together in concentration. Breathing carefully, he tried to organize his rampant thoughts.

"It's something to be slayed. Perhaps a creature of some sort?" Valayun proposed. "Perhaps it's knowledge he has learned in his travelings with us."

The Dwarf sat precariously as she tapped her fingers against her knee in a silent rhythm. "Maybe. It could be a number of things that I know nothing about." Meklavar turned to face Valayun with a raised eyebrow. "Is there any resident of the Underdark that would match it?"

"No." Valayun sighed, sitting beside Meklavar.

Pike gritted his teeth. They were all too loud. He could do this. He did know the answer. If this was meant to test his skills and knowledge, it wouldn't be testing their knowledge. It would be his own skillset when it came to thinking. Admittedly, critical thinking was not his forte, but he could think things through. He could always find another answer. Pike inhaled sharply.

"Perhaps it's something from the Ke'ii people's culture?" Gyro contemplated in an almost serene manner. His voice sounded as if he knew Pike would know the answer, which crawled under the Ke'ii's skin like no other thing.

"It isn't." Pike replied curtly. "Just give me a moment."

Slamet's tail like appendage swished back and forth, much like Pike's own, though the aberration's tail was thicker and scaled. His hands came together and templed in a sort of smug expression. "Are you stumped? In exactly 89,657 realms, this riddle is too difficult for the most advanced explorers-"

"Shut _up_!" Pike growled. His claws clenched into his palms and his sharp teeth bared in his frustration.

Gyro's gentle hand rested itself reassuringly on Pike's shoulder. "Trust yourself, Pike." He said only after he had Pike's full attention. "This test was meant for you. Stay true to yourself."

"Gyro is right." Block agreed softly. "Come on, Pike." He cheered teasingly, comfortingly.

Pike inhaled a calming breath. His claws retracted and his lip curled back over his teeth. Facing the aberration carefully, Pike exhaled carefully. "...an onion?"

" ** _What?!_** " Meklavar screeched as Block spluttered something unrecognizable. Valayun hung her head heavily, burying her face in her hands as Gyro blinked slowly from his place beside Pike.

Slamet clapped excitedly. "Wonderful!" He rushed toward Pike and his form seemed to shrink to their size, or even smaller. "You're clever! Just like in the other 69,877 realms!"

"How many realms?" Block asked softly as Meklavar's voice exclaimed over him. " ** _An onion?!_** "

Grinning smugly, Pike shrugged. "Breaking an onion's skin is said to make you cry." He made a faux gesture of examining his hand. "And I've never seen a small town not adore onions for their seasonings."

Gyro chuckled. "You guessed, didn't you?" He teased gently at Pike's side.

"I guessed." Pike nodded solemnly. "But my Mama always said to trust your gut." He grinned anxiously.

"Wise words." The paladin nodded. "Usually, your first instinct is the right one."

Block gave something like a giggle. "Oh my Gyragan." He breathed out slowly. "Amazing!"

Slamet clapped again. "Yes, yes of course." He waved three of his hands dismissively. "The haste with which you leave is the haste which which I can move on." His peculiar face looked to Pike with wide eyes. "You have passed the test of the Mind and have gained passage through the temple." Slamet moved from Pike's line of vision to reveal the stone throne. The throne gave a mighty shake as it scrapped across the ruined floor. When it had moved, it revealed a small opening to some tunnel. Pike had an eye for it. It looked like it had been made for the purpose of escape, as opposed to something that had just been dug. Fortified with stone archways in the small passage, it must have once been an escape tunnel for the residents of the Temple of Knowledge. Somewhere deep within Pike hoped it had served its purpose.

"Go through here and you'll find the path to the Soft Soils." He instructed. "Unless we're in one of the 132,483 realms that leads you to the mouth of a Trigorian Viper." Slamet rambled once again. Pike could see Gyro's brow twitch.

Valayun, ever observant, must have seen it too. "Thank you, Slamet." She bowed her head. "We'll be going." She said politely as she began to guide the party to the passage.

"Come visit again!" Slamet cheered happily. "I've missed company." His hands rubbed anxiously together. "Or don't come back. You have many chances of bringing dangers with you."

Pike could see that Gyro had bitten back something along the lines that they would _not_ be back. Either way, Pike could guess that Slamet probably had the likelihood already solved. Walking with more trepidation than he had approached the Guardian of the Mind with, Pike took long and quick strides to the tunnel. Together, Pike and Valayun carefully lead the party into the tunnel system.

 

The tunnels were dank and dark despite the stone work keeping it well intact. Rot could not be kept away with the disuse of the tunnels. Pike's nose scrunched up in distaste as he swallowed the rising bile that threatened his throat with uncomfortable heat. He glanced to Valayun at his side to gauge her reaction. She was doing well, unsurprisingly. Pike had heard the Underdark was roiling slime and billowing steam made of the darkest fungus. That thought alone was enough to cause Pike to gag again. He turned to face the tunnel again.

Pike blinked to adjust to the darkness. There seemed to be something akin to light at the end of the tunnel. It had some sort of blood tinted hue. Pike's eyes widened and he grinned. The red and pink glows of morning promised a nearing end to the tunnel. "The end!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh, _yes_." Meklavar beamed as she brushed pass Pike and Valayun. "Let's go already!"

"There might be traps." Valayun warned half heartedly. "Tread careful." She added after her own smile could not contain her enthusiasm for the sight of sky.

Block chuckled as he moved closer to Pike. "We still have one more test." He hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder if we shall find it before or after we see my homeland."

"It wouldn't make too much sense to have it on the mountain trail, would it?" Pike observed. "I think we should find it before the Soft Soils." He eyed Block carefully. "I'm excited to see the soils you keep talking about."

Beaming with barely hidden excitement, Block rubbed his hands together. "Oh, the sands are almost golden despite them being so close to the _Mauga_." He continued on as if the Mauga had not brought nightmares to the forefront of his mind as it seemed to haunt the party's every words since Ciana bequeathed them with their quest. "The sweetest of berries grows there and the most colorful shirts and dresses dance in happy festivals during harvest."

Block's reminiscing was tranquil in the quiet of the tunnel. It seemed to have attracted the attention of all of Voltron. His stories reminded Pike of his mother's cooking over a campfire and younger siblings wrestling in the tree line as they waited for supper. Pike shook himself of the sentiment and returned himself to that moment just as they broke free of the tunnel.

"Fresh air." Valayun sighed with relief. "I always miss it after tunneling."

"One step closer to the last sleep I'll see before Tychon." Pidge grunted. "What's left? The test of Heart?"

Nodding solemnly, Block tightened his grip around his staff. "Yes. The test of Heart is the final test before Tychon." His brow fell in concentration. "I have no idea as to what that could be, though."

"Everything has been quite literal." Gyro said gently. "Perhaps this is meant to test the intent...?" He asked carefully.

Pike turned back to face the paladin. "What's that suppose to mean?"

Gyro held his hands up defensively. "I do not question your integrity." He spoke quickly. "When you accepted this quest, you told Lady Ciana you were doing it for your friends." Gyro looked uncertainly toward Pike. "I'm merely staying it is possible that your heart, in this sense, shall be tested."

"Or perhaps your ability to hold this light." Valayun added as she strode to stand beside Gyro and face Pike. "You're meant to hold Ciana's light, and she told you not to be turned by it, but perhaps in turn to not corrupt it."

Block nodded sagely. "Finding balance in your heart may as well be the answer to this too."

Meklavar shrugged. "We'll only find out when we get there." She shook her head. "We've not know when we were facing the test of Body, and we had well time to prepare for the test of Mind." Continuing as she stretched, Meklavar released a soft breath. "Perhaps we'll not know until we're at the door of this test. Or we will know it while it's a ways off." Her brow set in determination. "We won't know until we set off."

Valayun smiled with pride. All of the party did. Watching as all of them somehow grew into something larger than their own quests, greater than themselves, was an honor to behold. "You just want to get to a bed." She teased gently.

"Hells yeah, I do." Meklavar smirked, placing a hand on her hip. "Let's test that heart of yours." She winked to Pike in a knowing sort of way that made him subconsciously look to Gyro, despite him fighting the reaction. Pike jerked his eyes from the sharp sight of the paladin and looked on ahead.

"Do you recognize the path?" Pike asked Block as they stumbled onto a small, stone inlaid path.

The cleric examined the stonework carefully as he crouched over the path. He traced the dirt that resided in between the slabs of stone. Block sniffed at the dirt he had tracked onto his finger carefully. His eyes widened and his features brightened significantly in the glow of the rising sun. "Yes!" He jumped up. "We're not a four hours walk from home!"

Gyro grinned as he stepped next to Block's gleefully bouncing form. "Then let's go." His eyes smiled with him as he gave a small, earnest chuckle. "The sooner we head on, the sooner you can see your family again."

Block's eyes watered at the prospect of returning home. It was an almost foreign seeming concept to Pike. Returning home had never been a thought or even a dream for him. Here Block was, wishing for home, and Pike found himself wishing right with him. Not necessarily for Pike to return to his own home, but for Block to return safely to his. If Gyro's words of the test rang true, then Pike knew his heart would lie with doing it for Block in the very least.

The party's heels clicked with purpose against the stone path as they made the trek through the forest towards the Soft Soils. Every step closer brought another bundle of anxiety that churned in their bellies the further they went. The upcoming test that would be thrust upon Pike weighed heavily on each of them. Nervous energy stewed between them all as they moved onward.

As the sun finished its rise and brought a full morning's sunlight, a cry pierced the air. The party jumped with a start, readying their weapons. Pike's ears perked up as he made to rush toward the sound, but Block's hand stopped him.

"We got lucky last time." He whispered softly. "We shouldn't spilt when we know not what is to come."

Meklavar readied herself beside the cleric and the thief. "What would make that noise?"

"No creature that lives here." Block answered with trepidation. "Tread lightly." He cautioned.

With the slightest set of hesitation, the party slowly crept along the path to trace the source of the sound. It was unlike their run with the Devouring One that had separated them until Pike went careening into the belly of the beast, but now they moved as one. Synchronized movements that could only be honed through several travelings and combat together glistened in the morning sun as they went.

The forest was enveloped into a deadly silence as they drew closer to where the noise had originated. Eerie quiet seeped into what was once a peaceful trail as Voltron diverged from the path, swimming through the foliage of the forest. Pike's tail swished feverishly behind him as they approached a clearing in the thick woods. His eyes widened when they entered a sort of clearing that seemed to have carved into the forest.

The party peered around curiously as they searched the clearing for any evidence of what might have caused the sound that had disturbed their walk. There was nothing unusual about the clearing, aside from the fact that it looked illogically placed. Block had worried at his lip with how unnatural it had looked. The only thing that stood in the clearing was a lone stump. Gyro drew his weapon as they approached.

"Walk with caution." Valayun warned as an arrow flew from her quiver and into her hand. She notched it with quick precision as her breaths turned soft.

Sunlight that trickled through the tree line barely kissed the peculiarly placed stump. The small shadow it casted in the morning light was the only marring on the bright green grass. Pike approached with cautious curiosity as he inspected the stump and its shadow. Before his very eyes, the shadow seemed to shift. It was nothing inherently noticeable, only a slight sway as if the stump where drifting in the breeze. On further observation, Pike could see that it was indeed not the stump moving, but the shadow. It seemed to breath.

A chuckle erupted all around the party. On high alert, the party aimed their weapons into the trees. They kept one another at each other's backs to cover them. The chuckle turned twisted and the sound elongated into a more diabolical laughter. "You're so foolish." The deep voice echoed, and it felt as if the clearing were now some strange bubble.

" _Reveal yourself_!" Gyro demanded as he held his sword defensively in front of himself as he prepared for an oncoming attack.

"Oh?" The voice drawled. "Well, since you asked _nicely_."

The stump's shadow swirled and rose. Limbs emerged as a figure crawled from the depths of it. The menacing set of its shoulders was a stark contrast against the gentle blades of grass. The laughter rippled around them as it continued to roll out of the shadow in a carefree manner. Pike inhaled sharply as the tall, brooding figure was sharpened into something more definite. A man of regal, dark robes stood before them behind the stump. The figure flicked his hand and a sharp weapon blinked into his dark grasp.

Sharp teeth gleamed in the sunlight. "I don't suppose I have to introduce myself?"

Gyro growled fiercely as he stood in front of the party. His sword glistened threateningly to match the teeth of the figure. " _Tychon_." He spat as if the name were a curse. Perhaps to Gyro it was. Nothing but ruin followed Tychon's shadow.

"Oh, such a spirit." Tychon snickered. "You remind me of Ciana. Her flame burns brightly in you." His voice sounded forlorn and bittersweet. It seemed as if something flickered behind those dark pupils of Tychon's, but Pike could not catch it. "Soon that will end." Tychon raised his fist and clenched it. Around him, five shadows flew from him like tendrils. They splat against the ground before spiraling into columns. The party took a drastic step back to prepare for whatever Tychon was brewing.

Claws slicing through the air, Pike crouched into a lunge. Block chanted softly as he twirled his hands in a way long practiced. Meklavar's blade flashed like a grin against the forest. Three arrows sat perched and drawn on Valayun's bow. Gyro was the first to step forward.

"You'll pay for what you've done." Gyro promised as he drew his sword for a strike.

Tychon clicked his tongue. "Oh, I don't think so." He swirled his hands and the shadowy column crumbled and shook. The pieces that fell evaporated into nothing as forms emerged in place of the columns. Five figures that mirrored Voltron in their stances stood in a semi-circle around the God of Darkness.

"What are these abominations?" Block whispered as he readied himself for a fight.

The twist of Tychon's smile sent cold dread through Pike's spine. "Oh, is that how you think of yourself?" He turned to his summoned beings. "Well, the you that you could easily be. Almost are." His large hand reached toward Voltron before snapping his fingers. "If you think you can slay shadows, why not try fighting your own?"

In an instant, the shadowy like reflections lunged forward in a deathly charge. Pike's eyes widened as he ducked deadly claws that leaped for his throat. He blinked away the shock as an exact duplicate of himself turned sharply on its heel to him.

Gyro's ferocious growl rumbled through even Pike's chest. "Your devilish trickery won't befall us." He promised as he swiped at his own reflection. The dark double dodged with ease and returned the blow. Gyro stumbled for a moment before parrying the next blow and slicing again, only for his blade to meet air.

Valayun gasped as her counterpart darted further away, sending a barrage of fire towards her. The Elf returned with a volley of her own. Dwavern steel met with a shadowed blade in a felling swoop, only to be shoved aside with great force from either side. Block's own enchantments seemed to bounce and fall short of their target.

Looking to his party and then to his own shadow, Pike crouched low. He watched as his shadow followed his every movement. Even the swooshing of his tail behind him seemed to be synchronized to this darkened mirror. He chanced a look to Tychon who stood to the side smugly.

"You're on your final test." He taunted. "Pike of the Ke'ii, this is your chance." Tychon clapped his hands above his head and vanished in a thin smoke of wispy shadows.

Eyes wide, Pike jerked his attention back to his smirking double. It swayed in a teasing manner as if it were prepared for a strike that Pike himself had not thought of yet. Pike made to strike left but switched quickly to the right. The shadow seemed prepared for even this by easily rolling away from the sharp strike. 

"You're so predictable." The shadow veered.

Pike gaped for a moment before aiming for another strike. This too fell short of its mark as the shadows rolled of the dark figures body like a smoked mirror. "You can speak too?"

The figure snorted. "Can't you?' He shook his head and this time the shadow took aim, making to pierce Pike's side. Pike fell to his knee and rolled out of the way.

Dodging and rolling in an endless flurry of blows, Pike could hardly recognize where his party members where on the field of battle. He could hear their grunts behind him as they fought. He wondered if they too had sweat built upon their brow.

"You're so quiet." The shadow clicked his tongue. "I expected more banter."

Gritting through his teeth, Pike huffed. "Sorry to disappoint." He heaved breaths as he moved again from a fierce blow from the shadow.

The shadow stilled for a moment in its battle. "Honestly, it's a little sad. You haven't asked me anything." He crossed his arms. "I'm not some mindless thing. I'm you."

"You're not me." Pike spat without hesitation. He gave another furious lunge to the creature and brought him to his back.

The shadow struggled for a moment. "I am, though." He chuckled. "I'm just better." Tychon's summon swiped at Pike's legs and sent him careening for a moment. Pike scrambled to get back to his feet. "I suppose you could call me Ekip." Ekip hummed thoughtfully. "But I really am just you."

Pike growled again. "You're not!" He could hear his comrades behind him. "You're a creation of Tychon-!"

"You're a chosen of Ciana!" Ekip argued. "But you and I are not so different!" The shadow tried to grasp at Pike, but he evaded the smoke like hands. Pike scratched and clawed at the shadow. They gained and took ground in equal measure. Pike's ears twitched when he heard Meklavar curse something. Slicing again, Pike watched as the first contact of his sharp nail penetrated Ekip's skin. Black muck oozed from it's translucent like skin. "Ow." Ekip said after a moment. He met Pike's eyes. "Why do you fight it? Are you afraid of your darkness?"

His teeth gnashed against one another as he bit back another remark to the shadow. He slashed at him again. "I'm not!" He fought verbally with every swing.

"You are!" Ekip fought back. "You're just like me! We take what we want!" He grinned. "Tychon is offering you something."

Pike could hear Block's shout from a distance. He sounded too far away, but Pike could hear him over the roar of their battle. Clashing blades against shifting shadow rang out but Block's voice shouted to be heard. "Fight against them!" He demanded. "Don't let them taunt you!"

"Don't listen to their lies!" Valayun cried out. "Don't let their shadows take you!"

It was all a roaring ocean in Pike's mind. There was noise but he couldn't decipher it. The more he spoke to Ekip, the less focused he became. He shook his head. "I'm not you."

"You could be." Ekip's jab was less taunting and sounded more like a promise. "Tychon has an offer for you, Pike of the Ke'ii." His voice purred and left a crawling feeling on Pike's skin as he stepped out of his reach again.

Pike snapped sharp canines when Ekip came too close. He slid on his heels when he flipped back out of reach again before launching himself to slice. Again Ekip dodged with ease. "Why would I be interested in anything Tychon has to say?" He snarled.

"Because you're me, and I know what we want." Ekip grinned as he pushed in close to Pike. Their foreheads shoved at one another as they fought for dominance.

" _ **Stop saying that**_!" Pike's growl was savage and gnawed at his instinctual Ke'ii roots. His claws elongated and his gaze sharpened tenfold.

Ekip barely countered Pike's strikes as they grew more excessive. The wild flinging of his nails became less predictable the further he was lost to his rage. "You're angry! Give in to it!" Ekip shouted over Pike's red fueled haze. "We want riches! We will never be hurt again!" The words were ringing in Pike's ears. " _Just say yes to Tychon_!"

Pike's ears drummed with the beating of his heart. The only interruption Ekip's occasional words slipping though, trying to connive and pierce their way through PIke's defenses. His ears twitched when he heard Gyro's voice amongst the chaos of the tide. " _You're more than your shadows_." The voice lead him away from Ekip's enchanting words. " _I believe in you._ " Words promised to him gently as he began to shake himself of Ekip's slowly waning spell.

A feral rage, something primal and old, erupted from Pike as he sliced at Ekip with an unknown fury. Ekip's eyes widened as he tried to block the onslaught of strike. His arms bled and oozed. Flinching, Ekip stumbled away from Pike's heavy blows. He looked to the Ke'ii with wide eyes. "W-what...?" He breathed. "I don't understand." Ekip shook his head. "You're me."

Pike nodded. "Maybe I am you." He wiped at the corner of his bleeding lip. "But I have that choice. Not you."

Ekip's wide eyes swirled into unfathomable depths as the darkness around his feet boiled and swallowed him whole. Pike turned to his companions and saw that their mirrored counterparts too had been swallowed by Tychon's darkness. Whether to retreat or to rest, it was unknown.

Meklavar looked to her worn weapon and then to Pike. "I think that was the test of Heart." She said after a quiet moment had passed between the party.

"I think so." Block added carefully as he moved to examine the stump that had once produced Tychon's shadow. A natural shadow rested in its place against the forest floor. Block blinked curiously before squinting as if to read at something. "There's something here." He beckoned the party forward to investigate.

Valayun's observant gaze was the first to fully spot the odd writing on the stump. "It says 'O Verdadeiro Amor Brilla Eterno'?" She chewed at her lip for a moment. "It means that true love shines eternal." Valayun shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what that symbol means there." The archer pointed to the small emblem that had been traced into the bark under the passage. Its simple design was nothing more than a few intricate swirls.

"I don't recognize it from any religion." Block shook his head as he examined the mark by running his fingers over it.

Gyro spoke up softly. "It's not religious." He cleared his throat as he knelt before the stump. "That is Sir Pietro's emblem. It was emblazoned into his armor and waxed onto his letters." The paladin of light looked away, as if the visage or memories that Sir Pietro brought on were too much to bear.

"He trained you, didn't he?" Meklavar asked gently. "You were his squire?"

A small, bittersweet smile graced Gyro's face. "He practically raised me." He shook his head as he stood. "This is important to Tychon. I do not recall Sir Pietro ever having been to the Soft Soils, but this must all be for a reason."

"Some sort of connection." Block murmured. "When we get to the Soft Soils, the Elders might know." He offered in some solace. "They know many things that have and have yet to pass."

Pike nodded as he brushed the dirt off the seat of his trousers. He stretched before wiping the dirt that had streaked across his face off with the back of his hand. "We should go then." He spoke confidently. "Get there fast so we can finish this."

Gyro turned to face Pike fully. His eyes looked almost thankful to Pike which he could not understand, but he was beyond understanding Gyro in most cases. "Yes. Finish this." Facing the path with nothing but the wind cleaning him of the dirt and muck of battle, Gyro looked hopefully toward their journey's end.

 

 

Reaching the Soft Soils was just as promising as it had been imagined. The golden sun shined on the ground of the small town and it seemed to glow underneath the morning kiss. Block's glee at the sight of his hometown bled into the party's spirit. High hopes for a bath to wash the grime of their battle off, and perhaps to even have a moment to erase whatever temptations the shadows had whispered to them. Pike knew only his own battle. The party was rather silent after the encounter. No doubt they too were under great pressure from their reverses.

The quiet was soon drowned with Block's ramblings of the Soft Soils. The small house he grew in and the areas in which he played were all told. The small temple to the god Gyragan stood at the end of the Soft Soils opposite of the mountain. Block's family ran the small inn that would more than happily host the party. The cleric revealed that he had worked there for a short summer before dedicating himself to Gyragan. He had learned all of his family's recipes before that time, though. Which had been more than enjoyed during their travels.

When they were mere steps from entering the providence of the Soft Soils, a figure began to approach them with gentle footsteps. Pike couldn't make our their face from the sun's position in his eyes, but upon turning to Block knew it was someone he easily recognized. Block beamed and began to wave. The figure dropped some basket they were holding. Its contents spilled into the soft sands beneath their feet. Pike swore he heard only a whisper of Block's name before the figure ran towards them.

The closer the figure drew, the more prominent her figure became. A beautiful woman of strong stature and gentle features ran to embrace Block. Quickly gone was any chance to identify her as she buried her face into Block's shoulder. The party watched as Block readily returned the strong embrace. He nearly shook where they stood. "Shara." He had whispered.

Pike's eyes widened for a moment as he watched the intimate reunion between Shara and Block. He met the eyes of the rest of the party and they quickly turned to give their cleric privacy. Upon turning they spotted more townsfolk from the Soft Soils gentle stepping forward. Slowly, but surely, an entire group of people similar in feature to Block ran forward and stole Shara's embrace just as she was pulling away from Block. The cleric was drowned in the affection and Pike could correctly guess that it was his family that had rushed to greet him.

After their private moment, Block made quick introductions. "Family, this is the party I've been traveling with." He grinned. "My friends Meklavar, Valayun, Pike, and Gyro." Block informed his family as he pointed to each member of the party. "Guys, this is my family!" His voice was near breathless and his tearful smile stretched across his face. The bright smiles that greeted the party were identical to Block's own, and any doubt of the heavy relation was soon erased with Block's family's quick embrace of the party. Just as Block had promised, his family did offer lodgings for them and to help them restock for the journey ahead. The people around them seemed to gasp softly in shock when the party regaled them with their quest.

"The Mauga is dangerous, Block." His mother warned him cautiously. "No one has ever gone up there."

Block smiled reassuringly and took his mother's hands gently. "I know, mother, but I must." He grinned at her as he squeezed the hands in his grasp. "With Voltron, we'll defeat Tychon, and no one will ever worry about the Mauga ever again." Block promised his mother.

Surrounded by Block's family, the party was quickly lead into the heart of the Soft Soils. They were met by what Pike assumed was one of the Elders Block had spoken about. He looked sage like and his brow was set heavy with years earned wisdom. He bowed his head politely and the party in turn returned the gesture. "Gyragan told us of your arrival." He spoke after the greetings were done.

Block's eyes widened. "Gyragan spoke of us?"

"Of course he did." The Elder chuckled for a moment. "He knows all that goes on in his realm. He has been waiting for this moment." He waved for a younger man to approach him. The younger man held something in his hands that looked like a decrepit box of some sort. He held it up for the Elder to open. "That is why he took you into his service, Brother Block."

The cleric inhaled carefully as the party watched with bated breath while the Elder retrieved a small medallion from the box. From the yellow ribbon the medallion hung and reflected in the sunlight. The medallion depicted an acorn seed that twinkled when the light hit it just right. It almost looked as if there was some other hidden image, but Pike could not tell what it was.

"Gyragan's heart." Block whispers gently as the Elder draped the medallion over his head. "Elder Ikerson, I can not-"

"You must." The Elder almost pleaded. "It is what was foretold to us long before you were even born, Brother Block."

The cleric swallowed heavily before taking the medallion. "Thank you. I will not let you or Gyragan down." He promised.

Smiling knowingly, the Elder chuckled. "I know you will not." The Elder turned to Gyro then and raised an eyebrow. "Now, it was also spoken to us that you had an inquiry, did you not?"

Gyro's eyes widened for a moment before he bowed his head respectfully. "I did, Elder Ikerson." He frowned gently as worry set into his brow that was barely covered by the band around his head. "Upon completing the third test set before us, we discovered a stump that was carved with the symbol that I know to belong to Sir Pietro of Lady Ciana's Temple."

The Elder turned to a few other men garbed with the same robes as himself. They mumbled in some tongue unfamiliar to Pike. Pike raised a curious eyebrow when Elder Ikerson turned back to them. "Sir Pietro once visited here." He explained. "Long ago, before the dark god Tychon took up residency in the Mauga, Sir Pietro traveled to many places to spread the word of his Lady."

Another one of the Elders, this one slightly younger than Ikerson, spoke up. "You know the history of Sir Pietro being deigned Lady Ciana's champion, do you not?" His voice was not accusatory, but it sent Pike's skin roaring in defense.

Gyro nodded after a moment's thought. "Of course." He spoke softly. "Sir Pietro was a farmer seeking to bring back warmth to their crops. When he climbed the mountain top, he prayed at the small temple for any god who would listen." Gyro's voice became soft and enchanting, just as it had all that time ago in the Inn when he regaled the party with the tale of Lady Ciana and her siblings. "Lady Ciana heard his cries and took mercy on him. Then she was but a small goddess with no temple to her name."

Nodding, Ikerson continued. "When the Lady aided him, she chose him as her champion. After this, she rose in status."

"But what does any of this have to do with the stump?" Pike questioned as he moved to glare at the Elders.

Ikerson raised an unimpressed eyebrow toward the behavior. "And you are her chosen one?" He shook his head. "Everywhere Sir Pietro went, he left a mark of his love for her."

Valayun chewed thoughtfully at her lip before speaking. "He was devoted to her, wasn't he?"

Looking around, Elder Ikerson beckoned the party in closer. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "We do not speak of it. We were forbade not to." The Elder beside him worried at his lip as Ikerson continued. "Gyragan has granted us permission to for this. Tychon's ears and eyes tower over us even now, and this is dangerous knowledge."

Gyro's shoulders tensed under his armor. Pike, more out of an instinctual comfort than anything, rested a gentle hand on his forearm. Though his shoulders did not ease, Pike caught the secondary glance thrown his way to show that Gyro had acknowledged it. "What is it?" Gyro asked carefully.

"He was totally devoted to her." Elder Ikerson sighed. "Devoted, devout, committed..." he listed before looking to Gyro with an odd expression. "he loved her."

Block's eyebrows shot high on his forehead before he shook himself of the shock. "That isn't completely unheard of though, is it Elder Ikerson?"

Ikerson shook his head. "No, Brother Block." He inhaled carefully. "But Lady Ciana too was devoted to him."

Voltron's paladin paled for a moment. "They... ?" He whispered. He looked to his hands. "That was why Lady Ciana had seemed so..."

"Distraught." Meklavar finished. She grimaced as she looked between Gyro and Elder Ikerson. "So it was a love note to Ciana."

Suddenly, the ground shook violently. The people of the town scrambled with practiced ease for cover. Elder Ikerson beckoned them into the cover of Block's family inn. The Soft Soils roared with a fury unheard of to Pike in all of his travels. He idly wondered if perhaps Gyragan had not permitted so much to be revealed, but then his thoughts wandered to Tychon above the mountain. Pike's tail flickered for a moment as he kept a watch by the window before he was dragged away from the glass. Block gave a hot huff beside him.

"Tychon's rage burns through the soil." He explained irately. "It's best not to stand by the windows lest his full fury knock the glass out." Block shook his head as he guided Pike back over to where the party sat. Elder Ikerson's head hung low.

"They were devoted to one another." Elder Ikerson finished softly. "Not even Gyragan's great wisdom knows what happened, but Tychon flew into a rage at this and this is why your temple perished."

Valayun's eyes widened. "But even Lady Ciana swore to us that it was jealousy over her power. How can that-"

Elder Ikerson gave a short chuckle that sent him into a coughing fit. "Lady Ciana is a young god. She knows not the things that Older Gods are privy to."

Gyro seemed especially troubled by all of this. Whatever the case, the ground ceased its cry and the Soft Soils stood still. Those who had filed into the inn for protection dusted off their shoulders and went about as if nothing peculiar had happened. The party turned their gazes back to Elder Ikerson. He waved them off as he stood.

"You'll want to rest before your journey up the Mauga." He told them gently. "Rest. Make merry." He smiled sadly and Pike wondered if he thought some of them would never leave the Mauga. The Elder turned and made to exit, but Pike rushed out of his seat. He caught Ikerson by the arm.

"Is that the whole truth?" He interrogated softly.

Behind them, Pike could feel the party's eyes on him. Ikerson gave the side of his nose a light tap. "All in due time." Ikerson spared a glance and Pike knew it was toward Gyro. He turned again and left the inn without another word. Pike turned back and watched as the party quickly looked away save for Gyro who merely looked curious. Pike shook his head in answer and Gyro looked away with disappointment. Sympathy built its way into Pike's heart as he moved to sit back with his party.

 

 

The evening was filled with further introductions and making merry. Block's family welcomed Voltron with open arms. Warm food filled their bellies and even warmer thoughts filled their minds. Pike worried at his lip when he saw that Gyro seemed preoccupied. The new knowledge weighed heavy on the paladin's mind, and Pike knew that. He carried over his pack and carefully withdrew the bottle of Illithian wine that Gyro had purchased for him. It felt almost like a full moon cycle, even as it was only a few days at most.

Pike gave a soft smile as he poured two cups. "I think you need this more than I do at the moment." He handed the first cup to Gyro.

Gyro blinked out of his trance and took it gratefully. "Thank you." He said gently. "It... it's a lot to take in, I suppose." Gyro said carefully. "He never told me..." His grip on the cup tightened. "If she loved him, why did she let him die?"

The Ke'ii thief knew nothing of gods or their wills, but he knew his friends and he knew Gyro. "Sometimes... we can't." He shrugged. "You over anyone else should know duty above want." Pike spoke softly as he looked at his own drink with distaste. It no longer sounded appetizing to him.

The paladin's demeanor shifted. Something morphed along his features as his gaze pierced Pike. "I am not certain that I do anymore." He confessed softly. Pike's heart hammered with the whisper, drowning Gyro's voice even before he was finished.

Pike swallowed harshly and averted his gaze. "You've always followed your heart, but you know if Ciana asked you to go West and your heart said to go East that you'd go West."

"No." Gyro's voice rasped, but it nonetheless conveyed his confidence in his words. His steel gaze bore through the side of Pike's face, burning his cheeks. Pike felt compelled to meet his eyes. "I would follow you."

His heart beat like thunder in his chest. It rolled like storm clouds in his brain, fogging his thoughts. He opened his mouth aimlessly, looking for some sort of out. His grip on his cup tightened before he released it quickly. "I think I've had too much wine. I should be off." Pike hastily stood, ignoring the thrum of life that lit under his skin at Gyro's words. He brushed pass the seated paladin and made to head upstairs to the room Block's family had kindly prepared for him.

"Pike," Gyro's voice called behind him when he was moments from the door to his lodgings. Pike closed his eyes and berated himself for not having moved faster. He turned on his heel to meet Gyro. "I apologize if I've over stepped..." He trailed off for a moment, ducking his head in what Pike presumed to be shame.

"Why?" Pike asked before he could stop himself. His words were beyond his control. This time he could blame no wine nor adrenaline. This was Gyro and himself. Gyro's presence alone was a natural high that he had no ability to hold himself from.

Gyro slowly raised his head to face Pike. His features contorted into something questioning. "I hadn't meant to make you uncomfortable-"

Pike cut him off before he could finish. "No." The words felt like his final breath. "I mean why are you..." Pike struggled for his words, struggled for this whole scenario. It was beyond him. Beyond what he had imagined for himself. Gentle words that promised him a place in the party and kind smiles that warmed him were things he had left behind for the road and the life he lead yet somehow these things had caught up to him and found him. They embraced him and tightened their hold on him. He never wanted to leave.

The softness of Gyro's gaze stole the ardor from Pike's stance. He felt like water beneath incredible stone. Helpless to the course it was set on. "Why I feel this way?" Gyro inquired curiously as he stepped closer to Pike.

Pike could not retreat from the blaze this time. This was the breaking point. He would burn in this coming course or he would freeze it over, never to speak of it again. He could bury it far away and leave it all behind, but never see Gyro or Voltron ever again. His words to Ciana race through his mind. He truly did consider this party his friends... some sort of hodgepodged family. Gyro was something else entirely. "Yes." He finally answered after a long pause.

"You're kind." Gyro began. "You're brave. You have such brightness to you, Pike." He smiled gently as he combed some of Pike's loose bangs behind one of his ears. "You're beautiful." Gyro's cheeks colored a rosy pink at the gentle admission. "You leave me breathless. You-"

" _Enough!_ " Pike hissed for Gyro to halt in his flowing adorations. The intensity that Pike's face burned was unbearable. "I don't know what you _want_ , Gyro." He could feel his eyes burn if it was not his whole body alight with this moment as it spiraled into a blazing ring.

Gyro looked as if he wanted to hold Pike's breaking walls and cradle them dearly. It crushed Pike, the absolute totality of this paladin's devotion. "I want _you_." He said simply. As if the words were all that Pike needed for this to make sense to him. Pike shook his head to clear the fog of Gyro's words that had wrapped around his mind. "Gyro, I don't-" He started but was halted in his words when Gyro clasped his hands.

"Pike," Gyro's voice was a whisper that dragged Pike's heart along with it, "tell me that you don't feel this too." The paladin pleaded and it left Pike breathless. He could not recall ever seeing Gyro in such a vulnerable state. It caused his heart to stir and his words to fall unabashedly.

"I couldn't lie to you." Pike's confession drifted between them like the dawn of a new morning. A sign of the unknown, but excitement for it. Gyro's expression softened. His eyes looked to Pike reverently, and the Ke'ii almost couldn't bear it. He turned his head softly, but was paused in his actions by Gyro's gentle hand guiding his gaze back to him. Softly, Gyro's lips grazed upon Pike's lips like the graceful steeds in their mighty postures feast upon the grass to satisfy them. It was the heat of a campfire and the gentleness of silk sheets. Pike hungered for it. Embracing the desires that griped his heart like an iron grip, Pike swallowed Gyro's lips into his own. He could feed on that life force for all of his days.

The paladin's hands, calloused hands forged with work and might, slipped behind Pike. He held him securely in his warm grip. Pike shivered at the feeling. Greedily, he deepened the kiss, never pausing in his movements and want.

"Gyro." Pike whispered against the paladin's soft lips as he pulled away. "If we go much farther I won't stop." He opened his eyes slowly and pierced Gyro with his gaze. "I will take and take until you have nothing else left. I will selfishly gorge myself on you until I'm satisfied." The admittance left the both of them flushed scarlet in the small hall. The merriment downstairs was a distant memory faded to this moment. Only a singular torchlight illuminated their features.

Pike felt embarrassed and wished Tychon would just be done with it right then and there. He had denied himself of his wanting, not only for Gyro, but for this sense of home that had slowly built around him. In the firm, warm grasp of the paladin in soft light he could do nothing but melt into the embrace. He could do nothing but want this sense of comfort and _home_ for as long as he could have it.

Again Gyro's features took Pike's breath away as overwhelming fondness drowned him in a stormy sky. "Pike," he began softly, "I give myself to you completely." The confession burned through Pike, scorching his very soul with Gyro's name.

He gave a silent gasp as he moved closer to Gyro, impossibly closer. "Gyro," he spoke carefully, "you can't just..." Pike went on as his face bloomed with proof of his flustered state.

Gyro chuckled gently. He moved his hand to brush softly at Pike's cheek. "I am yours. Whether you want me or not, I have already given my heart to you."

Fresh tears prickled at Pike's eyes as words caught in his throat. Nothing could express this. This feeling of urgency from their nearing doom. The feeling over urgency to catch up to where they already should have been. Drowning in all of the _what ifs_ and hopes for the future, Pike continued. "I..." Pike huffed a gentle laugh. "I give myself to you too." He whispered against Gyro's warm face.

The smile that bloomed under Pike's breath was his and his alone. He would make sure of it. He captured it with his own mouth again, taking what was so willingly given to him. Long, slender fingers found their home in Gyro's soft locks. Pike's ears twitched when he heard the latch of his door open. He hummed pleasantly as Gyro lead them carefully inside the small room, never breaking their point of contact. Pike pulled away from the warm crevasse of Gyro's mouth. "Gyro." He whispered against the paladin's soft lips.

Seemingly knowing what he was trying to get at, the paladin was as observant as ever. Even as Pike could feel his larger form melt into a gentle shroud enveloping him in a soothing heat. Gyro captured his lips again. He closed to door softly behind him and Pike could just barely hear the lock click over the beating rhythm in his ears. Gyro's soft breath was the melody to his beating heart.

Pike grasped at Gyro's armor desperately, guiding him to the bed blindly. Hands gently cradled Pike's lithe form as Gyro rested him on the soft bed. The gentle sheets were like silk in comparison to Gyro's dinged armor. At the reminder, Pike's nimble fingers fumbled to remove the pieces that hide away Gyro's firm figure. Hot breathes encouraged one another as their fingers jammed against each other in a rush to strip Gyro of his armor.

Breathless laughter filled the warm air of the room as Gyro's armor slowly fell from his arms piece by piece. Pike bit at his lip, sharp teeth piercing the gentle skin, as he gazed upon Gyro's form. He rans his palms across the planes of his chest before curling his hands into Gyro's back to begin undonning the under armor that hugged his firm muscles.

Gyro's eyes roamed over Pike's own body that lay in striking contrast of the light colored bedsheets. Large hands caressed Pike's torso as Pike felt the fresh air tickle his skin. He gasped in a silent breath as Gyro fully stripped him of his own shirt. Soft lips kissed gently at Pike's skin, emitting a moan from the Ke'ii. The pillow behind his head made it far more comfortable for him to throw his head back with a wistful sigh.

Those same lips kissed and nipped along Pike's torso before taking pause over his collarbone. Marking gently and lathing Pike's skin with his tongue, Gyro's mouth seemed to worship his skin which was nothing short of a roaring flame under Pike's skin everywhere that Gyro touched. "Gyro." Pike whispered his name, spurring his adoration of Pike's body onward.

"Pike." Gyro reaffirmed in a gently whisper. He drew away far enough for Pike to bask in the soft glow of his face. Blissful adoration flooded Pike's vision when Gyro's eyes met his own. "I adore you." He confessed against Pike's cheek before kissing along the Ke'ii's jaw.

Pike mewled and curled into Gyro's form. His short breaths turned quickly into needing whimpers. "Please, Gyro." Pike could not recall begging, never like this. But he wanted this. All of it. Gyro's tender caresses enraptured Pike into this moment. This long burning moment that roared like a signal fire into the night sky.

"Anything." The paladin promised feverishly. Wandering hands continued to strip each other to their barest form. Lying completely naked in front of the paladin of light, Pike felt exposed. He could see Gyro's eyes wander to every scare, just as Pike's own gaze had roamed across the fields of Gyro's skin. A visual caress of Gyro's skin pulling him closer, the paladin smiled brilliantly before drawing closer to Pike again. "Anything you want." He promised again.

Taking another kiss, or perhaps claiming a kiss that was given, Pike moaned into Gyro's mouth with a shudder of breath. "Everything you'll give me."

Gyro's eyes light with a flame unknown to Pike before this moment. Those same lips that had almost devilishly tempted Pike more times in that evening than any precious gemstone ever could widened into a form of pure light across Gyro's face. "Then everything it is." This time it was Gyro who captured Pike's lips fiercely. "Everything." He repeated the mantra.

"Everything." Pike sighed against Gyro's skin. "Please, Gyro." He could feel his eyes close into a dreamlike state of pleasure. Here only satisfied bliss and something close to love had a home and place between them. Gyro's earlier confession against his skin rekindled the flame that had ebbed into a peaceful warmth. Pike's eyes widened. "Gyro."

The paladin halted in his movements. He looked up through dark eyelashes, every bat of his eye swiping another breath from Pike's lungs. "Yes?" He asked gently.

Pike's hands cradled this precious man's face. Warm and inviting and _wanting_. So much more than Pike had earned in his lifetime, but everything he wanted. Perhaps, distantly he recalled, Ciana had meant this. This is what could never be stolen and here Gyro was giving it to him. "I think I love you."

The light from Gyro's eyes filled the room with an ethereal brightness, and Pike could have sworn that this time it was a literal light. He could think no more on it when Gyro rocked his frame into Pike, pushing him into the bed and molding around him. Pike moaned loudly and uninhibited as his claws marked at Gyro's back to find purchase against the paladin's strong thrusts against his body.

 

 

 

 

Gyro's hands trailed down the curves of his slender body until they firmly grasped Pike's length in their palm. Pike gasped at the contact. His claws bit at Gyro's skin more harshly than what they had. He knew he would regret letting himself have this freedom of marking Gyro so unashamedly, but in their throes of passion he only craved this wonderful, blissful heat for as long as Gyro would provide it.

A burning rhythm that raged like the fire burning in Pike's chest fueled them as they rocked together. Friction causing heat causing nothing short of pleasure but not enough. Pike arched off the beddings and into Gyro's larger frame. "Gryo." Pike's breathless voice cried.

Stilling in his rhythm, Gyro looked to Pike helplessly. Blinking his mind into thinking clearly, Pike read the silent question. He nodded before gently pushing at Gyro's shoulders. Gyro obliged and fell to his side before allowing Pike to roll him over. Once their positions were reversed, Pike curled down into Gyro's space again.

"Can I...?" He asked gently after a moment of merely breathing in one another. This alone was more satisfying than any partner. This peace and security with Gyro enveloped him into this moment that he wished to bubble and keep forever inside his heart.

"Whatever you wish." Gyro whispers gently. He took one of Pike's hands in his own and kissed at his palm. "If my hearts goes East, I go also."

Realizing that perhaps it was Gyro who was the thief, Pike shuddered a breath. Perhaps it was Gyro who had stolen his heart with sweet words and whispered nothings. Gyro who had bought Pike Illithian wine and fought fiercely for him and would go _East_ for him. Pike's hands moved down his body, cascading like a waterfall, until the slender fingers on his one hand reached his own wanting hole. His other hand trailed down Gyro's own body before grasping Gyro's length in his own palm. The paladin's sword was heavy in his palm from tip to hilt. Pike called out Gyro's name gently as he worked the both of them in tandem.

Practiced fingers made quick work of quelling Gyro's inhibitions. Loud moans and Pike's name on the paladin's tongue was like a siren's call to the Ke'ii. Again their rhythmic dance continued their steps where they had left it off. Gyro's hands soon covered Pike's own in their ministrations. Pike hiccuped a breath at Gyro's gentle touch to his sensitive skin.

He grit his teeth to force himself to finish before giving into his hunger. Pike looked directly into Gyro's eyes, only stopping when Gyro's gaze met his own. Pike retracted their fingers and lifted himself with his thighs. His legs quaked with equal parts anticipation and strain. Pike's ears jerked to hear Gyro's gasp for breath when the Ke'ii slowly began to sink onto the paladin's length. Slowly and inch by painful inch, Pike exerted himself to take into Gyro's entire girth. Gyro's large hands clenched at Pike's side, almost willing himself not to forcefully meet Pike's slow descent.

When Pike was fully seated on Gyro's length, he braced his open palms on Gyro's solid abdomen. He gasped for breath, taking a moment to absorb this feeling. Not just the fullness of Gyro's girth, but the closeness to which he felt with the man beneath him now. He breathlessly met Gyro's half lidded gaze with one of his own. Pike licked at his lips before sucking Gyro's soft, parted lips into his mouth. Nibbling and claiming every inch of Gyro was Pike's pleasure for tonight. Every piece that he could claim as his, every piece that Gyro would give him, Pike would selfishly take. Greedy and hungry, Pike slowly raised himself before sinking again.

Continuing like this, Pike shivered as Gyro's fingertips ghosted along his sensitive skin. He never knew he could feel so hyperaware to every touch. Pike panted for breath against the heat that surrounded him. Fingers dragged through Pike's hair, pulling his face close enough that he could hardly see Gyro's face. "Stay." Gyro whispered against Pike's swollen lips.

Pike blinked in confusion, slowing in his movements. "What?" He asked breathlessly.

"Stay." The word was repeated. "After this. After Tychon." Gyro pulled Pike away just enough for the Ke'ii to see the determination in the paladin's eyes. Steeled and never wavering in their intensity, Pike gulped at their focus on him. "Stay."

Wordlessly, Pike's mouth opened and closed for a short moment. He inhaled deeply, nothing but the smell of Gyro, heat, and this bliss. His heart thudded heavily in his chest as it hammered out his words. "Yes." He breathed. Pike took Gyro's face in his hands. "I'll stay."

As if the words were kindling to the flame between them, Gyro placed his hands to either side of Pike before rolling them over. Pike gasped. His legs reflexive wrapped around Gyro's midsection, pulling him in closer. Pike nipped at Gyro's ear and clutched the paladin closer to him. "Pike." Gyro's heated voice steamed across Pike's cheek.

" _Gyro_." Pike could only respond with his name as Gyro continued their pace as if it had never been forgotten. The flame licked at Pike's toes as he curled under Gyro. The hottest of pyres could not prepare Pike for this. This, whatever he tried to dress it as or call it, burned brighter than any lantern or sun against soft soils. Even in whatever dismal, cold future image he could conjure for himself he knew that this moment would forever be branded into his heart.

Burning bright as a candle, this flame went on through the night. Until the ember dyed and the wax ran out. Flickering for a moment before being completely spent, the cool night was left to its comforting darkness. Night blanketed sleeping forms like winter's coat upon the ground. Intertwined and spent, Pike's fingers swept gently across Gyro's glistening skin. Pike felt Gyro's arms tighten around his waist.

Pike could feel Gyro's lips kiss the top of his head, just between his ears, in the softest touch Pike had ever received. Every way that the paladin touched Pike, in both body and heart, seemed to touch every corner of Pike's darkened heart with his light. Pike felt something akin to a glow in his chest. He kissed Gyro's chest softly in return. Pike raised his head and propped himself on one elbow to gaze upon Gyro's face fully.

He smirked gently. "I never even got my dinner first."

A bright blush splotched across Gyro's face like a child's painting. "I-" He spluttered for a moment.

"I'm teasing." Pike stuck his tongue between his teeth. His teasing softened into something far more gentle than he would usually care to admit. He gnawed at his bottom lip for a moment before speaking softly into the night. "Thank you."

Gyro raised an eyebrow. "For what?" He gave a bare chuckle as his hands grazed gently along Pike's slightly arched back.

Pike laid his chin against Gyro's chest as he continued. "For..." The words caught for a moment in his throat. None of it sounded right, nor did it sound like what Pike wanted to convey. He was grateful to Gyro for a great many things. "For believing in me." He eventually settled on.

Cradling Pike's cheek in the palm of his right hand, Gyro smiled brightly. "Of course, Pike." His movements were almost sluggish in their spent state. "There's no need to thank me for that."

Pike shook his head, shaking Gyro's chest slightly with the motion. "No, I do." He reaffirmed. "I haven't had many believe in me, and those who did I spurned away."

"They didn't deserve you." Gyro smiled sadly. "And I can not blame you for wanting to protect your heart, Pike." He rested his forehead against Pike's in what the Ke'ii was sure was an uncomfortable position despite the reassuring gesture.

Blinking wet lashes, Pike nodded. "Thank you." He kissed Gyro softly between his words. "Thank you."

Gyro nodded and Pike could feel the slightest shift of the paladin's forehead against his own. "Thank you, Pike." He smiled again so very brilliantly in the dim room only lit by moonlight's kiss. "Thank you for allowing me into your heart."

Pike laughed wetly and softly like a newborn's cry. "That was my pleasure, Gyro." He promised with another kiss. Perhaps Gyro was right, and Pike's earlier assumptions had been wrong. It was not sweet words stealing his heart away, but soft kindness tearing away at the mortar walls he had built around his heart of solitude.

Promises over gentle kisses twinkling beneath moonlight passed between the two silently. Sleek, sweat covered limbs imprisoned one another's hearts into the sanctity of the bed. The wind softly hummed the two to sleep as the night cascaded over the lovers in a warm embrace almost as if welcoming them to a sky of infinite lovers.

 

 

The night passed and the morning came far too quickly. Pike blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he shifted. He could have sworn on earlier inspection that the pillows provided by the inn had been tremendously comfortable. He groaned as he stirred again, but it wasn't until his bemoaning of comfortable rest had been disturbed by another noise. A soft groan as the beddings beneath Pike shifted alerted him to another presence in the bed. His eyes widened and he jerked to face Gyro who had yet to awaken. Pike's heart raced as it recalled their intimacy of the previous night.

Gyro almost displaced Pike from his chest as he moved slightly beneath the Ke'ii. He slowly batted his eyelids open as his smile spread like syrup after the autumn season. "Good morning." Gyro's voice sounded hoarse in the early morning hours. Perhaps it was parts from its use the prior evening, or perhaps it was the morning's wear on the paladin. Gyro brushed the fallen bangs from in front of Pike's face to behind his ear. The gesture was so intimate that Pike himself felt something like a purr rumble deep in his chest.

"Morning'." Pike whispered gently. He hesitated before stretching ever just the slightest to nuzzle at Gyro's cheek. He could feel Gyro's smile spread against his nose where he pressed into Gyro's face.

Gyro hummed against Pike's affectionate nuzzling before returning the gentle rubbing of his own chiseled chin. "I suppose you'll want that bath?"

"That depends." Pike's tail swished leisurely behind him. He watched as Gyro's eyes followed the movement for a short time before returning his gaze. "Will you be joining me?"

The pleasant flush in Gyro's cheeks gave Pike a fit of short laughter. Gyro rolled his eyes before chuckling along with him. When their tittering died down, Pike watched Gyro try to repress his smile. "As you wish."

Pike ducked his head to hide the blooming smile. Too much affection swelled in his heart like a blossoming bud that had no room to grow. "Your words are too flowery." He chuckled as he used his open palms to push himself off of Gyro's body. "A simple yes would do." Pike stretched, raising his clasped hands high above his head. He felt a relieving pop from his back. Sighing as he settled down into a more relaxed posture, Pike turned back to smile at Gyro who was still nestled in the bedding.

The paladin threw his legs over the side of the bed and reached for Pike. His outstretched arms caught Pike and dragged him in to the space between his parted legs. "You deserve flowers in every form." Gyro brushed his lips across Pike's knuckles. "I would give you every word if it meant seeing you smile like that."

Inhaling shakily, Pike fought the oncoming flush with a turn of his face. "You can't just say things like that." Pike muttered even as he gave no notion to pull away from Gyro's gentle affections.

"I could steal the stars if you wanted me to, Pike." Gyro murmured against Pike's knuckles. His stormy eyes never left Pike, and Pike couldn't help but to see the sunlight shining through those rain clouds of his eyes.

This time Pike did move away, but he grasped Gyro's hands in his own. He carefully pulled him off the bed. "Bathe with me." Pike's tone dropped sultry. His lidded eyes beckoned Gyro forward with him to the conjoining bath.

The lovely and wonderful family of Block provided not only beds but food as well. Just as Block's breakfasts had summoned the party in the early hours, so did Block's family's dishes. Fresh sweets and meats lead Pike, followed by Gyro, into the main dining area of the inn. Block, Valayun, and Meklavar greeted the two of them with bright smiles.

"Oh, hey!' Block grinned. "Did you two rest well last night?" He asked politely. No doubt he was being hospitable, but Pike's tail flickered as he chuckled. "Oh, yes. Slept very comfortably."

Gyro rested his hand gently on the small of Pike's back as he passed by him. "It's the best rest I've gotten in many moons." He smiled gently at Block but not before sharing a secretive smile with Pike. Gyro's attention on him enflamed Pike's face and caused his lips to curl pleasantly.

Meklavar looked curiously between the two, but had no chance to comment before Valayun cut in. "Good. We'll need the rest." Her demeanor was serious and stone faced. "We head for the Mauga today."

Like a maternal instinct, the entire party looked sympathetically as Block shuddered at the name. He nodded after a moment of collecting himself. "It will be no easy journey." Block spoke carefully as his voice laced with the same determination that lined Valayun's own tone.

Agreeing and sharing this mentality, Gyro and Meklavar nodded. Pike inhaled deeply before nodding once. "Yeah." He sat carefully in the space between Gyro and Block that was left for him. "And then that'll be it, won't it?"

"For now." Meklavar answered quickly. "I'm sure there's still much more to do." She spoke softly into her cup. "I know I'll be heading East after this."

Valayun smiled reassuringly. "I suppose I'll head East too." She quickly added. "I have to repair relations with people that way." Valayun's ears flushed, and Pike wondered if her once fiancé laid to the East.

Block hummed through a mouthful of steaming food. "Well, I think the Elders spoke of a distant temple of Gyragan growing in the East." He chuckled. "I could go to see how they're doing."

The gentlest of looks was spared to Pike before Gyro spoke up. "I've always wanted to travel and see the people of the East." He gracefully feasted on his well supplied plate. Gyro looked to Pike out of the corner of his eyes. Pike knew the question before Gyro even asked. "What about you, Pike?"

Pike blinked thoughtfully as he looked to his plate. "I think..." he started. He looked to Gyro fully before a small smile trickled across his cheeks. "I might head East."

"Why?" Meklavar raised a curious eyebrow, but Pike could clearly see the teasing that lay under her eyes.

Pike shrugged. "I suppose I'm just following my heart." His ears twitched at his obvious increasingly flustered state. "That's usually how I decide these things." He quickly took a sip of his own drink. Pike caught the discreet smile that Gyro buried in his own cup.

Looking suspiciously between the two, Block shrugged off whatever he thought he had seen. Pike wasn't certain exactly what this made Gyro, but he would like to face the God of Shadows first and then see if he lived to decide that. "Eat up. Mom and dad cooked enough for a small army." Block laughed sheepishly.

"They cook just as good as he does." Meklavar said with a mouth full of the delectable food. Consuming the plate quickly, Meklavar quickly filled a secondly plate.

Valayun gobbled hungrily at her own food as she nodded vigorously. "It really is the most pleasant tasting food to have ever graced my taste buds." She hummed merrily.

"The greatest taste ever." Meklavar corrected through another mouthful.

Gyro shrugged casually as he interjected. "I've tasted sweeter things." Pike was about to ask if Gyro had meant the Illithian wine, but when he turned to ask and found only Gyro's eyes on him his whole body flushed. Unexpected, but not entirely unwelcomed, Pike could not find it in him to avert his gaze completely.

Meklavar huffed. "If you're talking about that wine, then you really haven't had these sweet rolls!" She shoved one of the steaming, delectable rolls toward Gyro's face. The paladin blinked curiously before taking it with an awkward but grateful smile.

"It shouldn't be too long a journey." Block began after most were finished with their meals. "That will make it no less perilous." His face fell into a gentle frown.

Nodding, the party let a moment of silence fall across them. Gyro looked at each one of their faces with carefully measured determination. "Might I say a prayer before our journey?" He asked carefully. The question was directed towards the cleric of Gyragan. Despite the party's quest being one blessed by both Ciana and apparently Gyragan, the paladin always sought permission for these things.

"Of course." Block nodded his consent.

Gyro returned the gesture before bowing his head at the table. Whether it was something that all of them had been taught, or something unspoken between them, the party gently took one another's hands in a sort of prayer circle. "Ciana's blessings upon us." Gyro began as he tightened his grip on Pike's hand. "Let our paths be shrouded with your light and may we find solace in your presence."

The party gently nodded. Pike could hear Block's barely above a whisper addition to the pray, a call of Gyragan's name. He could hear Valayun pleading with her ancestors for Guidance, and he could hear Meklavar's mention of the Olde One. Pike had no deity nor ancestors to pray to. He believe in no fate other than that forged in life. Pike chewed at his lip for a moment before sending a silent prayer. He knew not what entity may have heard it. Perhaps it even fell on deaf ears, but Pike prayed and pleaded for Voltron's protection, no matter the cost.

A gentle voice, like ringing bells part of a children's choir, rang throughout Pike's jumbled thoughts. The words were unclear, but their intent were there. Something gentle and bright beat in his chest. He could feel Gyro's hand squeeze his own more tightly and he wondered if perhaps he had twitched upon hearing the voice. When Pike could hear Gyro's conclusion to the prayer, he carefully opened his eyes. Uncertain, but never deterring in their brightness, smiles met one another. Confidence not in certainty of their fate, but perhaps certainty of each other, glistened in reflective smiles.

Each of them stood one by one, pushing aside their plates and taking up their gauntlets. Pike took in a steadying breath before giving a single nod. "Let's go, Voltron."

Paladin, Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, and Thief all stood as one. All of them left as one. One party, one misshapen family forged in dragon fire and the heart of a beating forest, trailed onward toward their journey's end. Whatever fate their respective deity had for them, they were finishing this together. Block hugged his family dearly, and even a few of them gave parting affection to the party who gratefully returned it. Small children wished them luck, and even a young girl had linked a daisy chained necklace for the paladin of light. Donning nothing but their wits, good wishes, and the blessing of a goddess, their feet tread carefully along the soft sands that Block called home.

Gone were the quaint buildings that pulled along Pike's heart. Even in his short time there, the warm and welcome atmosphere was inviting and pleasing to the taste. He could see himself more settled in a town like that. Perhaps with Block close by to always feed him the most delicious foods. And Meklavar there to tease him endlessly. If Valayun could but be there with him, competing and helping him better himself in combat. Or if Gyro would stay with him, just as he did what was only hours ago and yet another lifetime ago, before they marched on to what would undoubtedly be someone's doom.

Pike did not expect to survive. The wrath of a god being challenged was more than likely to require sacrifice. He would not let his family... He would not let Voltron fall to the god Tychon. He would do everything in his power to prevent it.

"Is it a hard path up the mountain?" Meklavar asked Block as they began their ascent.

Replying thoughtfully, Block quietly responded. "With Tychon waiting for us, I would imagine so." He hummed. "But it used to be a well traveled path. The road this far down is still carved well by wildlife traversing through it."

Valayun took the lead, as she always did with her proficiency, "Then we will have to carve the rest."

Gyro nodded. His features grew more firm, more like molded steel, the further they climbed up the mountain. Even as the morning sun beat down his brow, it stayed firm above his forehead barely hidden by his circlet. "If there is anything we're good at, it is carving our own path." He smiled in affirmation as he followed closely behind Valayun in a defensive stance. With Valayun's focus on finding the path, with the help of Block who knew some of the land and its flora, it was best to have Gyro so close.

Meklavar and Pike too up the rear. Cautious eyes scanned beside them as they passed. Attentive and aware, Pike's eyes roamed around them. His attention was only caught by Meklavar clearing her throat. "So," she began.

"So what?" Pike replied absentmindedly. 

"You and Gyro?" She snickered for a moment before schooling her features into a more inquiring nature. The damage had already been done, and Pike could clearly see that same mischievousness that reminded him of his sister in her twinkling eyes.

Pike huffed, pointedly turning away from Meklavar. "What about Gyro and I?"

Meklavar's eyebrows danced across her face in an oddly endearing manner, despite her current line of questioning. "You shouldn't leave so much evidence next time if you don't wish to spoil it."

Widened eyes met Meklavar's toothy grin. Pike gaped. " _What are you-?!_ "

Dragging Pike by his collar to meet her eyes, Meklavar's tongue poked playfully between the teeth of her smug grin. "Your neck, Pike." 

Pike slapped a hand to cover the skin of his neck that Meklavar had revealed by dragging him by his collar. He righted himself by jerking out of her loose hold. "It's none of your business!" He hissed despite his tizzy state.

Meklavar's brow furrowed for a moment. "I'm your friend, Pike." She said softly. Pike would have sworn she looked more vulnerable in that moment. "I just want you to be happy."

Looking carefully to Gyro's figure. Pike mulled his words over. They were dangerous and terrifying, yet satisfying and hopeful. "I am." He said after a small time had passed. Pike turned a soft smile to Meklavar. "I want you to be happy too." He nodded before grinning. "Which is exactly why we're getting your father's sword back."

The Dwarf's brow furrowed again. "I'm happy to have a family again." She confessed. A soft moment of understanding passed between the two of them before Meklavar punched Pike's arm playfully. "Don't tell the others I said that." She teased. "I have an image to uphold."

"You and I both." Pike half teased with her. She seemed to have caught it and nodded in further understanding.

"My lips are sealed." She promised. "Now come on before Valayun accuses us of slacking off." Meklavar raced to catch up and Pike was not far behind in her hurried steps.

The trail up the mountain was not long. It was no more perilous than a sun boiling an egg on stone. Jagged rocks ate at their heels and thorns wiped at their sides from the over brush that did grow atop the mountain side. That did not keep the party's nerves any less on a razor's edge. Spiking anxiety and tense attentiveness to the lurking danger, the party treaded slowly. The further up the mountain they climbed, it felt as if the sun's warmth had been corrupted by a creeping chill. Pike tugged his clock further around him.

Gyro looked back to the party behind himself and Valayun. Worry clearly etched his features. "Tychon's corruption must have spread to even this part of the mountain."

"Look!" Block gasped as he pointed with a shaking digit. Shadowy tendrils waved back and forth in an imaginary wind. Their dark webbing that coated the mountain side oozed into the ground. The ground bled Tychon's darkness. Like the whips of a lion tamer, the tendrils lunged forward and licked at their feet. The party evaded with practiced ease.

"Quickly!" Valayun shouted the command as she shot a volley, covering their retreat further up the mountain. The tendrils swept across the floor like hungry predators. 

Block's eyes widened when a figure met his gaze. He skidded to a halt, and the party clumsily collapsed into him. The finger held up a solitary finger. Block gaped wordlessly as the figure strolled pass. The party watched as the figure strode toward the incoming tendrils.

"Wait!" Pike shouted, clasping the stranger's arm. The stranger gave pause and looked to them. Removing her hood, the stranger chuckled.

"Do not fret." She waved her hand and the tendrils dispersed. The party blinked in surprise.

Gyro, always on his guard in matters that pertained to Tychon, stepped in front of the party. "Reveal thyself." He commanded as he sword's tongue burned in his grip.

The stranger clicked her tongue. "Were you not raised with better manners?" She shook her head. "Your parents would be disappointed." Humming in thought, she frowned. "Though I suppose Tychon has made all of us distrusting."

Turning away, the stranger bent and mended runes carved into the path that not even Valayun had spotted. Block's whispered words disturbed the quiet. "You're the Ia of the Mauga." He shook his head. "We thought you were but legend."

"Legend?" The figure murmured. "Is that what they call me?" She stood to her full height. Her cloak hide whatever robes lay underneath, but Pike had no doubt she was a mystic of some sort.

"Those were illusions, weren't they?" Pike inquired as he stepped toward her.

The figure's lips quirked into a gentle smile. "Observant, Pike of the Ke'ii." She nodded. "Yes, they were but illusions." Turning back to her runes, the figures voice grew soft. "I keep them to ward off lost travelers. It keeps them from delving too far up the mountain."

Gyro lowered his weapon carefully. The tension in his shoulders never eased, and Pike recalled the earlier mention of his parents from the stranger. No doubt it was a troublesome subject. "Why are you here?" He questioned. "A Good Samaritan?" His disbelief was conveyed in every tight move of his body.

The stranger's eyes cast downward, away from her runes and the party, before looking back toward Gyro. "It is my punishment."

"Punishment?" Valayun echoed and with her words the party's spines tightened like a drawn bow, ready for action. "What for?"

With a wave of her hand, the runes glowed again. The stranger smiled gently at her restored runes before stepping toward the taut forms of the party. "I betrayed someone very dear to me." Her voice was like the whisper of the dead in the night. "Do you distrust me fully?"

Surprising even to himself, Pike spoke up. "We can't be judged by our past. Only what we choose to do now."

Pike could feel the eyes of the party upon him. He was certain without even looking that they were all in varying degrees of shock. The stranger in front of him merely smiled gently. "You have a bright light inside of you." The statement unraveled Pike as her eyes bore into his soul. "It's almost hard to see, but lights are so easily recognized by me."

Instinctively covering his heart with his hand as if the layer would provide protection from her gaze, Pike nodded. "Ciana hid it in me so I could make it this far undetected by Tychon."

"What?" The stranger baulked a laugh. She shook her head. "Ciana hiding a light inside you? You must be mistaken."

"No." Gyro spoke harshly toward the woman. Valayun rested a comforting hand on the paladin's shoulder but he continued nonetheless. "Lady Ciana chose Pike and bestowed upon him her blessing, as the light would be too easily recognized in any one of us."

The stranger quirked her head. "She is still so foolish, isn't she?" Gyro's frame tensed as every nerve fought to lunge in defense. "Naive." The stranger sighed. "Perhaps she thought Pike's darkness enough to hide even you."

"Stop speaking in riddles!" Meklavar's aggravation tightened her grasp on her weapon.

Startling at the Dwarf's blade for a moment, the stranger looked with wide eyes to the party. " _You don't know?_ " She whispered. Shaking her head, she turned away. "It isn't my place-"

Pike huffed with irritation. "If it pertains to our quest, it's our place to know." His piercing gaze pinned the stranger's eyes to him. "Please." His features softened. "I need to know." The odd feeling that burned in his chest quenched. Pieces that had slowly fallen into place to build up his broken heart shattered like glass all over again.

The stranger chewed thoughtfully at her bottom lip. "Her light does not reside in you." She said carefully.

Gyro's eyes blazed fiercely. " _Lies._ " The paladin defended his Lady's will. "Lady Ciana made him her _Champion_ -"

"I know lights, _boy_." The stranger's appearance burned. The forest around them seemed to waver in some sort of illusion. Pike gasped as the party moved in closer to one another as if they all feared the mountain side to fade away. "The light within Pike is his own." A long finger that flickered like a candle flame pointed toward Gyro. "Mind your manners and watch thy tongue. Your mother may have stripped me of my title but that makes me no less powerful."

Ice ran cold through Pike's veins as he turned to Gyro's slack jawed face. "Mother?" The paladin whispered carefully. "You knew my mother?"

"Knew?" The stranger's chuckle was almost bittersweet. "I know her. As do you." The Ia blinked. "You truly don't know, do you?"

Gyro shook his head gently as he sheathed his sword. "No. I do not." His voice sounded like a lost child, and Pike felt compelled by the glowing force in his chest to move closer to the Paladin's side.

Chewing again at her lip, the Ia sighed deeply. "Follow me. I know a place where Tychon can not see on this mountain."

The party evaluated their options. Despite their journey, they knew how important this was to Gyro, and perhaps even to their quest for Ciana. They nodded in agreement. "Lead the way, Ia." Block said after a moment of silence.

"Elpis." The stranger said softly. "That was my name."

Pike nodded. "Elpis." He greeted her in kind. Something, perhaps that replenished flame that burned in his chest, beckoned his words forth.

Elpis' features warmed. "I have not had anyone call me by name in..." she trailed off, "follow me." She finished instead.

Leading the party carefully through the small growth that clung to the mountainside, Elpis trailed carefully into a small mouth that was carved into the Mauga. She beckoned Voltron forth with a gentle wave of her hand. Despite the darkness that crept along the side of the mouth of the cave, the party followed hesitantly. Pike could feel the darkness of the cavern kiss his shoulders even as they were covered. Seemingly sensing his unease, Gyro sidled closer to Pike in their pace.

"I do not readily trust her." He whispered gently.

Pike nodded. "As you shouldn't." He turned to face Gyro. "But someone wise once taught me not to close off myself to other possibilities." His lips turned softly.

Gyro huffed softly, but Pike could see the corners of his lips tug slightly. It was more than enough as Pike turned his gaze back to the winding cavern. Through small passage ways Elpis lead the party. The cavern opened into a deep cave. A lone candle lit the small area, illuminating a single table and bed. Elpis turned to her guests.

"Welcome to my abode." She smiled softly. "I know it isn't much..." She looked around the humble surroundings. "It's what I have."

The party carefully seated themselves along Elpis' residence as she bade them to. They looked to one another as if daring the other to speak. It was Pike who spoke first. "Maybe you should start from the beginning?" His careful voice echoed throughout the cave.

"The beginning." Elpis nodded. "Yes, I suppose so."

_"At the beginning, long before Ciana had become the Goddess of Light, she was Ciana. She resided over a small region. She had no temples in her name. She was born from a distant dying star._

_A young man from the Flataichean of the Far West traveled to the highest peak of the mountain. His village had lost all of their crops during their harsh winter. He climbed to the ruined temple of a forgotten god and prayed. He prayed for any deity who would hear him."_

"We know this." Meklavar huffed.

Block's brows furrowed as he hushed her. "Please, continue." He motioned gently with his hand.

"Well, then you must know how she answered his prayers. How the two fell in love?" Elpis continued with a distant look to her eyes. "Well, they were wed." She looked to her hands, turning them gently. "They had a child."

Gyro's sharp inhaled was louder than the mightiest thunder clap. "A child? Sir Pietro and Lady Ciana?" His disbelief hung heavy on his heart and bled into his voice.

Elpis smiled knowingly. "Yes. A child." Her voice weaved something like those blankets woven by Fates. "A young boy. The demigod was raised by Ciana and her Champion." Voice wavering, Elpis swallowed heavily before continuing. "When Tychon threatened Ciana the first time, Ciana swore to hide the child. Pietro took the child and hid the boy where Tychon would never find him."

"Ciana could never see the boy, could she?" Valayun asked sadly.

"No." Elpis' voice whispered. "She could not." She inhaled shakily. "Pietro raised the boy under Tychon's nose, in Ciana's Temple." The Ia spoke softly. "But... someone betrayed their secret."

Gyro remained eerily silent. Pale faced and just short of shaking beneath his armor. Pike reached out subtly to rest a reassuring palm against Gyro's knee. "You." His voice sounded like steel clashing steel.

Elpis nodded. "Yes." She met Gyro's steeled gaze with her own watered eyes. "It was I. I betrayed them."

"Why." Devoid of emotion, and colder than the winds outside, Gyro's voice brushed over them.

"I thought..." She shook her head. "You don't understand, Gyro." Elpis pleaded.

"What was his name." Gyro continued as if her words had never been spoken into the space between them.

Block frowned softly as he leaned toward Gyro. "Gyro, I think-"

"What. was. his. name." Pike felt that ember in his chest turn brittle at Gyro's surprising tone. He knew as well as everyone else in the small cave what her answer was even before she spoke. Perhaps Gyro needed the solace of hearing it, but every waiting moment sent another thread loose from Pike's stitched heart.

Elpis turned away from Gyro's heavy gaze. "Gyro." She whispered. The sound was barely heard, even in the emptiness of the cavern.

Standing abruptly, Gyro glared at her. His shoulders squared and his jaw tightened. Without another word, he turned quickly on his heel and swept out of the small cavern. Pike jumped to his feet to follow the paladin. He spared the party one last glance before rushing to catch Gyro before he completely left the safety of the cave.

"Gyro." Pike said gently as he approached the tense figure. " _Gyro_." He repeated as he placed a gentle hand on his right pauldron.

A soft sniffle escaped from the ever stoic paladin before he cleared his throat. "He never told me." He rasped against the emotion in his throat. "He raised me and yet he never..." Gyro shook his head.

"He couldn't." The Ke'ii whispered gently. "He had to protect you, Gyro." Pike, while keeping his warm palm against Gyro's cool armor, shifted to stand in front of the paladin. "He still raised you."

Gyro blinked away the hot tears that weighed heavy on his features. He shook his head. "All that time..." He turned fully to Pike. "My father, Pike." The paladin inhaled carefully, collecting himself. "My father is dead. I feel as if I am grieving for him all over again."

Pike cradled Gyro's cheek and swiped at his loose tear. "You're grieving what you could have known." He gave a wet chuckle. "Let your heart grieve, Gyro. But don't forget the task at hand." The thief gave a small smile. "We have more to learn before we reach Tychon, and after he pays for what he has done, you can grieve. Your father can rest."

Smiling against the hand that rested against his cheek, Gyro chuckled softly. "Thank you,  _mo chridhe._ " He murmured against Pike's palm before gently kissing it. Gyro's eyes had not regained their full gleam, but there was some of his smile there.

With a fast beating heart, Pike nodded numbly for a moment. "Of course." He whispered lest his voice carry in the small confines of the hall. "We should get back. Elpis might have more for us, or at least a weakness of Tychon's we can exploit."

Gyro nodded. "Of course." Breathing in deeply to stretch the tension out of his frame, Gyro turned back the way he had come. Their walk was in comfortable silence. Walking closely beside one another, and this time Pike did not shy away from the proximity. Meklavar raised a curious eyebrow to which Pike merely shrugged. They returned to their seats and looked on to Elpis and the discomfort on her face.

"Tychon told me many things of which Ciana knew nothing." Elpis began after a quiet moment that she took as he cue to continue. "So many of them I did not even understand." She pierced the party with pleading eyes once again. "I did not know his intentions for her temple. I thought he meant to _reason_ with her."

"He slaughtered everyone in the temple." Meklavar said cooly. "No wonder Ciana stripped you bear and made you live out your days here."

Valayun's brow furrowed. "Wait." She intervened gently. "If your title was taken away when Gyro was grown, after the fall of the temple, would he not know you?" The ranger turned to the paladin in question who merely shook his head in response.

Elpis shook her head in kind. "No he would not." She sighed softly before continuing. "I was an Oracle in another temple." Elpis bowed her head. "I served the Lady Ciana with all my heart, but I knew of her love for Pietro and Gyro ran deeper than her sense of duty." The ex-oracle carefully added. "Tychon knew this as well. I thought he meant to help her see that her duties were greater than that of her heart, but he exploited Ciana's weakness."

The cleric of Gyragan tried to be sympathetic to her obvious guilt, but even he found it difficult to find it in his heart to forgive what she had done to Gyro and his people. The party waited patiently and silently for her to finish. Elpis took the offered moment with another gentle nod.

"Tychon seeks to bring balance into this world." She said simply. "That is truly why he is Ciana's opposing side. He is meant to be her equal as the midday shadow is to the high risen sun."

Gyro's face tightened once again at her words. "Are you trying to convince us that Tychon meant this for the greater good?"

Elpips shook her head vigorously. "He went about it all the wrong way, but he was convinced that be ridding the world of the demigod, Ciana's purest light, would bring back a balance to light and darkness."

"And you believe there should be a balance?" Block asked carefully. "Even as we've all been told the evil of shadows?"

Shaking her head, the ex-oracle spoke quickly. "Oh, of course." She nodded. "Why do you think it was of such importance to have Pike?" Elpis turned to face Pike fully. "Pike's own nature is like a shadow, but he balances your own party."

Pike quirked his head. "You said that Ciana hadn't hid her light in me." He inquired. "Then what did she do?"

"Nothing." Elpis whispered with a grin.

" _Nothing?!_ " Meklavar hissed. "You mean we've come all this way without a boon and without-!"

Elpis nodded solemnly. "You made it here on your own merit." She smiled gently. "Ciana did not need you to carry her boon. She merely needed Pike's shadow to cover Gyro."

"Gyro." Pike said blankly. "I'm here to disguise Gyro's light so he can get close enough to slay Tychon."

The oracle nodded. "Precisely." She smiled. "As the Lady matures, she does learn somethings. Tychon would know Gyro's light, but if his light were to be shrouded-"

"So from pack mule to blanket." Pike said roughly. "I see." He nodded. "Is there anything else false any god has told us?" He demanded.

Elpis shook her head. "Not that I know of." She frowned gently. "Pike of the Ke'ii, you misunderstand. It is as I have said." Her lips tugged upward. "There is a balance in this world. For every light we need shadow."

Pike crossed his arms across his chest almost as if to protect himself from the once warm feeling that had burned him. "I'm glad to be of assistance." He muttered bitterly. "If you can't tell us of any of his weaknesses or a way up this damn mountain, then we really should be going."

The ranger frowned but stood. "Pike is right." She turned to Elpis. "It will be no time at all before Tychon discovers us here."

"Unless Pike's darkness is really that shrouding." Meklavar hummed curiously.

Nodding, the oracle stood with them. "Of course. Of course!" She smiled. "I know not of any of his weaknesses, only that he fears you, Gyro." She looked earnestly to the paladin of light. "But I do have a passage that will keep you from his gaze until you're close enough."

Gyro gave a polite bow of his head. "Thank you, Elpis."

"Always." She whispered. "Nothing will ever erase what I have done," she began softly, "but I do hope to be forgiven one day."

The paladin gave her a cursory glance. "That is in the hands of Ciana."

Elpis inhaled sharply. "I know. I know." She spoke rapidly. "But please, let me help."

The ex-oracle lead them back through the small tunnel system. Instead of taking the path that had lead them to her abode, she took a sharp left. Upon meeting nothing but sharp rocks, she rapped her knuckles against them in an odd pattern. Once she was finished, the wall began to shake. The party looked on in awe as the once solid cave wall shifted to reveal a small hole. Elpis smiled and winked before continuing to guide them further through the tunnel.

As they walked one behind the other in a marching fashion, Pike could feel Meklavar rest a reassuring hand against his arm. He found no solace or comfort from the touch. Only pity radiated from her hand and it churned in his gut and made his face distort with disgust. The once steady flame in his chest was extinguished. He always knew he had no greater role in the quest of gods. He had no greater fate than the next man. He had a simple role of shadows. Shadows were all he would ever be, and once this was done he would retreat into those shadows and he would not take the party he cared for so dearly with him.

The tunnel seemed to grow smaller the deeper they trekked through the hidden passage. The party made no complaint as they held their breath. Eager and anxious the closer they drew to Tychon, their movements were more scuttled and frantic as the confines of the tunnel made them jittery under their skin.

"How much further?" Gyro asked softly as not to alert any outside force to their presence.

Elpis hummed gently in thought. "Oh, it's right..." she muttered under her breath, "here!" She stopped short of another sharp wall. With another set of a rap of her knuckles, the stone wall shifted and slid out of their path. The party watched as the wall revealed a larger room. They peered carefully from behind Elpis. She stepped softly into the large room, allowing the party to enter behind her.

Once the last of them had crossed the threshold, the stone wall slammed behind them. The party jerked on their heels to see that the wall had sealed behind them before glowing with an eerie purple light. Turning back to Elpis, Voltron watched as her form seeped dark tendrils that manifested somewhere behind her. Her smooth complexion shifted and her features became murky. Pike gaped.

"What in the _Hells_ -?!" Meklavar cursed.

A disappointing click of the tongue rang out as Elpis, or whatever creature of darkness she was, stepped aside. Behind her, standing at full height, was the God of Shadows Tychon. His once distorted form was clear and defined, leading Pike to believe that this was him in the flesh. Or whatever sort of flesh gods would have.

"Watch your tongue, kid." Tychon quipped. "I'll wash your mouth will soap."

Pike growled as he stepped toward the front of the party. "Don't talk to her like that!" He snarled toward the god who only took his threat with some small grain of salt.

Tychon raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" He drawled. "And what are you going to do about it?" The god chuckled. "No, really. I want to hear it." He motioned with his hand as he leaned heavily on a staff of ebony.

"Cease your mockery." Gyro demanded. "We've come to end your threaten on Ciana's reign."

The god huffed. With a wave of his hand, Elpis meekly walked to his side. "Really? That's what you've taken from all of this?" He admonished. "You've really learned nothing, have you?"

Block's grip on his staff tightened as he stepped beside Pike. "We've learned that you've corrupted and stole from many." He spoke impassioned by the ploy of his people. "You've terrified the people of my village who live in your shadow for long enough!"

Valayun's bow was drawn to her cheek. "You will not utter another word unless it is begging for forgiveness."

"I have nothing to be forgiven." He turned to Elpis, or rather not Elpis, beside him. "Did she not tell you everything? Eclipse, did you not tell them everything?" Tychon's brow furrowed. "The shadows prefer to be called their names inversed, but really, Siple is a _terrible_ name."

Eclipse, or Siple, or _whatever_ name the shadow being went by merely sighed from her spot beside Tychon. "Yes, M'lord." She agreed with her brow set in aggravation.

Tychon cringed. "Never, ever call me that." He rubbed his pale hand down his face with a soft groan. "You all are so small in this large world."

"Ciana charged us with slaying you." Meklavar readied her weapon for a great swing. "And you shall fall." She grit her teeth and steeled her stance.

Sighing deeply, Tychon stretched his hands. Tendrils flung toward the party and wrapped them despite their struggling. "You really have the listenings of mud, don't you?" His tone sounded like a fresh ire. Tychon turned his freshly lit, burning gaze to Gyro. "I suspected such from Ciana's bastard."

Gyro's form tensed and drew taut as if to lunge. Pike held his arm out before the party to halt them. "Did you lie when you spoke of Ciana's light not being held within me?"

"What?" Gyro barely whispered. "Pike, how can you believe-?"

"Yes." Tychon spoke with no room for interruption. "Her light is not within you." He shook his head. "The only resemblance any of your party has to her is this one." He pointed to Gyro with a sharp point of his jaw. "He bears her torch as her paladin and bastard."

Meklavar rushed pass Pike's outstretched arm. "He's not a bastard, you dry rot!" She spat back in defense.

The god rolled his eyes. "You're all children." He shook his head and turned away swiftly. He swept further into the larger cavern room. "You're missing the point of it. You're missing the point of _all_ of it!" He roared as he turned back to face them.

Again, cave walls quaked and from the floor rose a throne made of twisted stone. The stones seemed to cry out from the titan's shadow. Tychon's fingers drummed against the arm of the throne as he sat lazily across the throne. He raised an eyebrow and beckoned the party closer. Eclipse hung her head and sighed before bowing her head for them to pass.

Carefully, and with heightened trepidation, the party stepped forward. Their heels clacked against the cool stone floor as they moved closer to Tychon's grim throne. "Say Ciana's light was never in me." Pike spoke shortly. "Say my darkness was merely meant to cover Gyro's light so he could be hidden as we traveled here to slay you." The Ke'ii motioned Tychon on.

Tychon inhaled sharply. "Ciana is foolish." He ignored how Gyro's form tightened even further as he spoke. "She believes that shadows are inherently evil. She believes that Gyro must slay me and disperse of all the shadows to have ever kissed the Realm." Tychon shifted to seat himself with an erect spine. "Gyro can not slay me." His lips twisted. "I know what Ciana's intent truly was."

"What?" Block's voice was soft with parts shock and awe. Weighing his reaction, the cleric continued. "Why would Ciana hide Gyro's light from you if not to let him come here? Despite you knowing where we were on the trail?"

He rubbed a forefinger and thumb at his temple. "You truly know nothing of the shadows." Tychon stood to his full height. He seemed to tower over them by three heads in the least. "The closer the light, the larger shadows become." His grin shifted into something malicious. His towering form did more than shadow over the party. It seemed to grow as large as the room almost. "By hiding Gyro's light, she could have stopped me from reaching my full potential."

The party gasped and moved closer to the opposite wall. The imposing god gave something akin to a cackle as he swirled his ebony staff above him. Valayun readied her shot as Gyro lit his sword with a burning frame. Pike turned to his party before facing the opposing shadow. "Now or never." He allowed himself a small smirk despite the worry growing and uncoiling in his stomach as the light in his chest burned with a righteous fury as he faced Tychon.

Gyro took to the lead as he held his sword aloft in front of him. "Let's go, Voltron!" He shouted above the swirling mass of darkness that choked the room.

Tendrils that Tychon had formed thwapped at the party. Slashing and slicing. Meklavar and Pike zigzagged through the dark spires. Block and Valayun's ranged support aided them as Gyro kept to the general defense. His bulk armor kept him from matching the Dwarf and Ke'ii's pace, but his metal was more than enough to shield Valayun and Block. Eclipse was no where to be seen as Tychon thrashed his arms about in powerful gestures.

The swirling quickened and the very air seemed to be seeped out of the room with Tychon's powerful blows against the party. His eyes glowed with a familiar light even as his entire being was pure darkness. Pike's brow furrowed as he turned to Meklavar.

"Meklavar!" He called out between breaths. "His eyes! _Look!_ "

Meklavar huffed after every swing with her tiring arms. "What _is_ it, Pike, in the name of the Olde God-" She turned and met Tychon's gaze. Her mouth gaped as her eyes flickered over Tychon's murky form. "His eyes look like Ciana's light!" She gasped.

Pike nodded. "The closer he is to the light, the larger his shadow is!" The thief dodged another thwip from a swiping tendril. "His center must be light!"

"And if we can quench his light, he won't be shadow!" Meklavar exclaimed. She grinned as she turned to the rest of them. "We need to shadow his eyes!"

Block's brow beaded with the sweat he had worked up. "What in Gyragan are you talking about?!" He grunted as he evaded a swipe that came too close before Gyro finished the tendril. "His eyes?!"

The ranger looked to Tychon's eyes, and squinted in concentration. "How can we do that?" She shouted over the roar of Tychon's dark extensions.

With another grunt of another blow, Meklavar gave a shout. "The blazes if I know! Light is not an element!" She jerked her head to face the mighty face again. "We need something to shroud his eyes!"

"Me." Pike whispered. "If my shadow was dark enough to cover Gyro's light then it would be enough to shroud his eyes."

Before Pike could run toward his foolhardy plan, Meklavar dragged him back by the bend of his arm. "You **_stupid_** idiot!" She growled. "Tychon's power has built even with you being beside Gyro!"

Pike's eyes widened before he turned back to Gyro. When he met the paladin's gaze, he felt that familiar light in his chest blaze through him and heat his cheeks. He breathed out slowly as he realized the fullness of what this meant. As he turned to face Meklavar again, flashes of the past three days played behind his eyes. Block's gentleness matched with Meklavar's twin laughter. Valayun's keen mind keeping Pike sharp. Gyro's caress and soft kisses. It burned in his abdomen and it flared across his form. He swallowed carefully. "Meklavar, I think I know how to do this."

She shook her head vigorously. " _No!_ " She shouted. "I won't lose you too!" She pleaded. "Not like Dreklavar and father and-!"

"You won't." Pike promised. "Trust me." He asked her gently as he eyed Tychon's massive form from the side of his gaze.

Meklavar inhaled carefully. "I do." She breathed carefully. "You have to come back to us. You have to stay." The Dwarf, despite her stature, had never looked so small to Pike before this moment. The raging inferno of grim blackness was swallowed to Pike's concentration.

"I will." The Ke'ii nodded again. "Gyro still owes me that dinner."

Meklavar gave a wet chuckle before turning back to the thrashing tendrils. "Go before I change my mind." She gave a cry of battle as she swung, slicing through two of the inky tendrils.

Pike turned quickly on his heel as he faced Tychon. He hyper focused his gaze, not heeding the cries of his party members, as once more he darted into the belly of the beast. Using his feline agility, Pike jumped to and from tendrils that sliced and reached for him. The closer he reached, the more heavy the darkness was around him. He could hardly see beyond his outstretched hand to stabilize him. He squinted and began to breath through his nose as if the darkness would hide him from even Tychon. Pike hoped that his shadow would bleed into Tychon's own darkness.

His chest burned bright and he grasped at it. Pike almost lost his balance on the hammering tendril. He forged onward, gritting his teeth as his chest burned bright. So bright burned his chest that Pike feared his heart would burn a hole through his chest and fall flat to the stone floor. Pike gasped when he could vaguely see Tychon's shifting face in the darkness.

"Hey, blockhead!" Pike yelled out to the god.

The god's gaze met Pike's own, and the Ke'ii realized his whole body was still not the size of the god's nose in this form. "Yes, asshole?" Tychon's voice seemed amused more than anything. Pike took it as a sign that he might have the upper hand as he tried to hide behind the shifting shadows. "Oh, hiding? Are we playing a game?" The god chuckled.

Pike's tail flickered once as he stepped back on the still thrashing tendril. He crouched lowly before taking a short run to the edge and leaping. His limbs flailed as he grasped for any hold on Tychon's face. He latched onto the god's nose and gave a triumphant laugh. "Who said I was hiding?" Pike laughed over the roar inside his ears as his limbs slowly slide from where they gripped.

Tychon blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Close your eyes!" Pike shout as he jabbed toward Tychon's still gleaming eyes. "Just close your eyes!"

Stilling in his jerking movements, the god's eyes turned cross-eyed as he looked at the Ke'ii perched on his nose. "You understand now, don't you?" He said gently. The roaring stilled into a gentle whisper and the tendrils straightened in dark columns. "The light within us makes us darker."

"My shadows don't dictate who I am." Pike said carefully as he readjusted his grip. "That's what you meant. That's what you wanted them to see." His features hardened. "But you killed Gyro's temple!"

"I did what I had to!" Tychon shouted as he shook Pike from his face. The Ke'ii was sent soaring until his back collided heavily with the stone wall. He let out a groan and could barely hear his party's voices over the ringing in his ears. He cradled his head after he sat up carefully.

Block rushed to him. "Slow, Pike!" He commanded. "Slowly." Block's blazing eyes turned to Tychon. "You have nothing but bitterness in your heart! You're proving Ciana right with every action!"

Tychon's voice roared, sounding something like a beast from a forgotten realm. " _They need me!_ " He shouted. " _They all need me_!"

"Of course I need you." A gently voice disrupted his bellows. Twinkling from a small crevice at the top of the large cave mouth, a small orb of light glistened as it fell to the stone floor. After a flash of light, the orb revealed none other than Ciana herself. "I always needed you, brother." Her voice broke in its soft cry.

Shaking his head, Tychon's form slowly shrank and became equal to Ciana's own. "No, you didn't." He argued. "You surrounded yourself with light and were worshipped in light and you kept light." He snarled. "You forgot the importance of our balance. You forgot that as we grew, we needed to keep balance!"

"I had balance!" Ciana snapped back. "I loved you both!" Her brow fell from its tightened anger. "I loved you both." She echoed her heartbreak in every syllable. "Yes, I am so young. Yes, I needed guidance." She shook her head.

Tychon's mouth opened and closed for a moment. "You can say that now. You can say that now that-"

Ciana's eyes blazed with her light as she looked to Tychon. "I was not prepared for this greatness, but I thought that I would have you." She continued. "I thought that when my sun set and the moon kissed the earth, you would watch this Realm as I lay with my husband and kiss my child's forehead." Ciana's lips quivered helplessly.

"I was just shadow." Tychon spoke bitterly. "I wasn't-"

"You're my brother." Ciana stepped closer to Tychon. " _Please_." She pleaded desperately. "I forgive you."

Tychon's face contorted from confusion into despair. "Why?" He breathed. "I killed your husband. I tried to kill your son." He shook his head. "I'm not sorry for what I did. I had to make you see reason while you were throwing everything away."

Ciana's smile was bittersweet. "I know." She whispered. "And I know that even we make mistakes and stumble." Ciana reached carefully for her brother's hand, pulling it into her own. "I know you had good intentions, despite the wrongdoings. I know that my heart still burns with hatred for what you've done." She looked to their conjoined hands before piercing her brother again with her gaze. "But you're my brother. Please, I do not wish to lose anything more."

The paladin's voice cracked through the reunion of the two. "He slaughtered them." He shook his head. "How can you take him into your embrace?"

"Forgiveness." Ciana shrugged simply. "You have accepted a thief, an assassin, into your heart. Have you not?"

Gyro's eyes widened as he tried to avert his gaze, but found himself incapable of doing so. "....yes." He nodded softly.

"We forgive. Never forget, but..." Ciana turned back to her brother, "We know their shadows are not their hearts." She smiled softly. "Forgive yourself, brother."

Tychon's sharp inhale sounded winded, almost like when Pike had hit the stone wall that still caused his whole body to ache. It sounded like when Gyro had whispered sweet nothings to him. The sound was stolen breath carried away by something that had snatched the wind from deeper than his lungs. "I..." He shook his head. "Ciana, I can't-"

"You can." Pike hissed when he shifted from where he lay. Block's mending hands worried and flittered over his moving form. "It's important." He coughed into his fist before meeting Tychon's wide eyes. "We have to forgive our pasts. We have to see past our shadows to see our light." Pike gestured to Tychon with an unsteady arm. "You know that. You know our light forms our shadows."

Tychon looked between Pike and Ciana. "I know what I am." He growled between his teeth. "I know what I did."

Ciana rested her hand on Tychon's shoulder. "Yes, and now is the time to move on." She smiled gently. "Come back with me."

"They all hate me." Tychon spat.

"They miss you more than they could ever hate you." Ciana's smile was bittersweet like unripe blueberries on a summer day. "We miss you, brother."

Tychon looked to his hand and then to Ciana before softly speaking. "I'm your shadow."

Ciana nodded. "I'm your light." She smiled. "We are equals. We need each other." Her voice was soft and tired. Pike could understand that. It made him sleepy before Block shouted for him not to close his eyes.

Gyro rushed to him as Ciana and Tychon continued. "Pike?" He asked as he carefully examined the Ke'ii over Block's movements. "Are you alright, _mo chridhe?_ " Gyro breathed the words as if he were afraid their utterance would shatter Pike.

Pike smiled as he raised his palm to Gyro's cheek. "Of course I am." He chuckled even as the motion sent him into a frightful coughing fit. Pike waved Gyro's worry away. "I'm stronger than that."

"You're so strong." Gyro rested his forehead to Pike's for a moment before drawing back to let Block finish his healing of Pike's open wounds. "You're so stupidly brave, Pike."

The warmth blossomed against his ribcage as Pike returned the smile. "I know I love you, Gyro of the Temple of Light."

Gyro's eyes widened slightly, water running over them and washing them anew in a glorious light. Shining steel gleamed at Pike. "And I love you, Pike of the Ke'ii."

"...you did not think yourself worthy." Tychon shook his head. "I don't understand." He frowned. "We are crafted from light but shrouded with darkness and the world does not see us _worthy_."

Pike chuckled as he again moved. This time Block and Gyro aided him on either side. "I found my light by looking at myself through their eyes." He explained softly. "I found my light by looking beyond its reflection." The thief, the assassin, the many other things but also so many spoke kindly to the god who moments ago sought to kill him.

Tychon looked to Voltron, and then to his sister. He swallowed heavily before his eyes gently pleaded. "I want to go home."

Ciana's smile brightened as she held out her hand. "Then come home." Tychon clasped her offered hand. The both of them were surrounded by Ciana's twinkling light before the two gods soared above and out of the large cavern. The abandoned throne of the God of Shadows lay decrepit from their battle. Rubble covered the once smooth floors of the large cavern, leaving behind the tale of the Battle of Shadows.

Perhaps history would not remember this monumental moment, but Voltron would forever know this. This cavern marked with sword clashes and reminisce of dark shadows would remember all that took place here. Pike looked about the scene with an odd sense of completeness, as if this was always meant to be the outcome. He beamed as he looked to the party. Like the song sung by the free, Pike laughed.

He laughed and the rest of the party laughed with him. Gyro smiled and his eyes beamed. The sight ignited the warmth in Pike's chest. Pike reached carefully for the paladin's large fingers. Gyro intertwined Pike's with his own. The slenderness of the Ke'ii hands were a stark contrast to the paladin's own. Pike rested his forehead softly against Gyro's cheek. "Going home sounds nice."

Gyro hummed and gently nodded. Pike felt his head shake slightly with the movement. "Then where shall we go?" He whispered back. "To the East?"

Pike's eyes roamed over the party, all of which looked to him expectantly. Pike grinned at them. "What do you say?"

Block looked to Valayun and Meklavar for a moment. He regarded his fellow party members before smiling gently. "Only if we can stop to see my family first."

"We still have to find where Tychon hid my father's sword." Meklavar pointed out carefully. "Then we can head wherever we want."

"I'm sure it's somewhere hidden in here." Valayun supplied. "And perhaps the men of the Soft Soils will have a quest for us." She offered with a bright smile.

Pike shook his head. "Quests are so draining." He bemoaned dramatically.

The paladin chuckled as he kissed the side of Pike's forehead sweetly. His laughter gently rocked Pike within his hold. "We'll find rest. After we find that treasure room." He quipped.

The cleric of Gyragan looked curiously to the medallion that hung around his neck. "Nothing ever came of this." He stated after a moment.

"Huh." Meklavar nodded. "You're right. I thought the Elders said it was important."

Suddenly, the medallion's face transformed into something that spoke gently. Block was mesmerized by it. "Gyragan?" He whispered to the face.

Gyro looked to the weary Pike that half lay in his arms. He raised an eyebrow as his lips thinned into a line. "I suppose another quest it might be." The paladin offered gently.

Pike sighed as he buried his face into Gyro's neck. "I follow my heart to the East." Pike echoed the words once more. He lifted his chin to pierce Gyro with his gaze. He grinned toothily before turning his attention back to Block and the glowing medallion. "When do we start?"

**Author's Note:**

> “There are no shadows in darkness. Shadows are created by light, and only exist in the presence of light. Refusing to acknowledge our shadow leads us to deny the presence of light in us.”  
> ― Franco Santoro
> 
> This story is now passed on to you. It is now your turn to go out and let your light shine into the world. When it feels as if you can only see darkness shrouding you, remember your heart casts a light and lights form those shadows. To all the hearts that have been broken, to all the hearts that will heal. Forgiveness is not easy, but this is what makes it divine.
> 
> This work is an accumulation of a month's writings. I wished I had it in my power to write more for this particular story, but I feel that its purpose is done. Perhaps I'll add to this universe at a later date, but for now, the journey of Pike and Tychon's Shadow is done. Thank you very much for reading. Critical comments are always welcomed.


End file.
